I was just reminded of the current Minister of Industry's predecessor, the “minister for lowering cellphone rates”, Mr. Bains, who before the ink was even dry on his two-year cooling off period after leaving Parliament went to work for the highest-cost cellphone provider in the world—Rogers—as the fellow in charge of their government relations. The minister was responsible for reducing cellphone rates. As we know, when he left before the last election, Rogers had the highest rates in the world. I guess the reward for such incredible performance of a minister is a nice, cushy job in the Bloor and Church office of Rogers. I'm sure he has a beautiful view of the Toronto skyline out that window. He gets to oversee the communications.
I'll remind you that he went from being a vice-chair at CIBC, which is one of Canada's largest banks—I'm sure it was not paying a minimum wage—to now at Rogers. I can only imagine what he got paid by Rogers within days of his “conflict of interest ink” drying on his two-year waiting period. I can only imagine what he got paid. Perhaps his pay would even make McKinsey blush, but it certainly wouldn't make the Minister of Finance blush at the amount she charges.
Under the Treasury Board's “Review of the Responsibilities and Accountabilities of Ministers and Senior Officials”, the third item on the top of page six is—and bear with me, this won't take long. I only have about 50 pages more—to “promote a culture and practice of continuous improvement of governance and administration in the Public Service.”
I guess that's why we had a public service strike: the promotion of a culture and practice of continuous improvement of governance and administration. I think the only improvement we've seen is 80,000 new jobs. Having more gets you less—I think that's the slogan now of the Treasury Board minister. Perhaps she should also be called before this committee. Perhaps we might move a subamendment at some time on that to understand why the Treasury Board minister thinks it's so important for the federal government to grow by 80,000 people since this government was elected.
On the top of page 6 it says, “The accountability regime must therefore be marked by at least three core features”. This is critical in ministerial accountability. Number one is “well-defined roles and responsibilities, where those with authority have the capacity to carry out their duties”. I'm presuming that the ministers have the capacity to carry on their duties even though, since January, there have only been six appearances.
You know, it's sort of like Groundhog Day and waiting for the groundhog to come out. In my riding, we actually bring out a lobster in Shelburne County. It's a lobster we bring out that shows its shadow. Unlike the groundhog, no matter what the lobster predicts, we throw the lobster in a pot and eat it. We don't put it back in.
The best lobsters in the world are from the south shore and western shore of Nova Scotia, the winter fishery, which only has a few weeks left, by the way, if you're interested in some of the best lobster in the world. Then it moves on to the summer lobster, which are good but they're not as good.
The second point under accountability is that the regime must therefore be marked by at least three core features. It says a credible process of rendering an account where those with responsibility answer for their performance—let me spell that a-n-s-w-e-r—answer for their performance against the standard of what they were expected to do.
How are we doing on that, and how can we ask the minister, if the minister isn't willing to come for two hours, about why in the fall economic statement 2022, which she signed and tabled in Parliament, the budget projection is for a $4.5 billion surplus in 2027? Actually it projects for this year coming up, 2022-23, a deficit of $30.6 billion, but lo and behold, in this document only six months later, and in this massive omnibus bill, the result of that is that the Minister of Finance is projecting a $43 billion deficit this year, in only six months.