Evidence of meeting #111 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was first.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Jean-Yves Duclos Liberal Québec, QC
No, I didn't provide any direction.
I obviously asked the officials to follow the work that was forthcoming, which was going to be produced by the Auditor General and the procurement ombud. We knew we needed to wait for their reports before we could take any action.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
You didn't direct for any changes to be made at that time.
What's frustrating to me, Minister, and I think to many Canadians, is that even today, you continue to use the impersonal, passive voice to describe events that happened at the department you're supposed to be running.
I quipped at an earlier meeting that in your role, you could be replaced with a potted plant. I would seriously like to understand—
Liberal
Irek Kusmierczyk Liberal Windsor—Tecumseh, ON
Excuse me, Chair.
On a point of order, I think we expect a certain level of decorum here.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
I completely stand by that comment. It's not unparliamentary. You tried to do it last time and you were overruled.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Thank you.
Sincerely, Minister, I would like to understand this. If you didn't feel it was appropriate for you to take action or you weren't willing to take action when you were briefed on this metastasizing procurement scandal, what role do you see yourself having in procurement as the minister responsible for procurement?
Conservative
Liberal
Jean-Yves Duclos Liberal Québec, QC
For me, as a government, you're part of the exercise when you use your judgment and your critical input. This is supportive of thousands and hundreds of thousands of jobs across Canada—
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
But what do you do, Minister? What is it that you do here?
Liberal
Jean-Yves Duclos Liberal Québec, QC
The Government of Canada is the biggest procurer of goods and services in the country—
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
You, personally, as minister—what do you do?
Liberal
Jean-Yves Duclos Liberal Québec, QC
—and builds communities and helps provide good jobs for hundreds of thousands of Canadians. This is an important job—
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
I'm sorry, gentlemen. I have to interrupt. That is our time. You're eating into Mr. Kusmierczyk's time—
Conservative
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
Mr. Genuis, please. Your time is up.
Minister Duclos, our time is up. It's Mr. Kusmierczyk's time now.
Liberal
Irek Kusmierczyk Liberal Windsor—Tecumseh, ON
Thank you, Chair.
I want to allow you, Minister, to respond to that question.
Can you please tell us a bit about the approximate number of contracts that PSPC handles in a given year?
Liberal
Jean-Yves Duclos Liberal Québec, QC
The number is about 400,000 contracts or amended contracts every year. It's a big exercise. More importantly, it's something extremely important for Canadians and communities. When it comes to supporting the standard of living for middle-class families, creating opportunities for everyone to succeed, creating cleaner and safer environments, goods and services....
Service Canada is working currently on the dental insurance plan. It is already helping about 1.5 million seniors, who will get access, very soon, to the dental care they need to live healthily. On this particular example, we obviously worked with Health Canada and Service Canada. It's a feature of the type of good that the Government of Canada can do for Canadians. It requires all sorts of departments to do that, including PSPC.
Liberal
Irek Kusmierczyk Liberal Windsor—Tecumseh, ON
I'm glad you raised the issue of the Canada dental benefit.
The last time you were here in front of the committee, you talked about the anticipated rollout. I like to call you “the minister of smiles” because you're helping to deliver the Canada dental benefit to millions of Canadians who would otherwise not have access to dental care. They would not have access if the Conservatives were in government, because we all know they voted against the Canada dental benefit.
Can you talk a bit about the dental benefit and update us in terms of where we are at this point?
Liberal
Jean-Yves Duclos Liberal Québec, QC
I have three different things.
First, nowadays, about a third of Canadians, many of them with middle or lower incomes, don't go to a dentist, hygienist or denturist because they don't have private insurance and their income is modest. They need to pay for rent, food and transportation, so they don't go to a dentist. They know it's not good for them. They have pain in their mouth and they know that the infection that can develop can impact their cardiovascular health and gastrointestinal health. It can lead to a greater risk of diabetes. They don't go to a dentist, and they know it's not ideal.
The second thing is that because of this new Canadian dental care plan, many of them—middle-income and lower-income Canadians in particular—will now have access, sometimes for the first time in their life, to dental care insurance. They will be able to get treatments, such as a cleaning, an exam or an X-ray. If they need a filling, they'll have one. They can replace their dentures, especially if it's been years since they've been able to replace their dentures. All of that is good for their own health. It's also good for their ability to participate in life, to feel good, to work and to prosper.
Finally, it's good for our health care system as well. When you prevent these people from having to go to the emergency department or a surgery room under general anaesthesia because they were not able to have preventive dental care in the first place, that's good, because our health care system is already overburdened. Health care workers are stressed. We don't want that to happen. The best way for that not to happen is to put into place the new Canadian dental care plan.
Liberal
Irek Kusmierczyk Liberal Windsor—Tecumseh, ON
Can you tell us, Minister, how many seniors have already been enrolled in the program? By the end of this year, how many Canadians will be enrolled in the Canadian dental care plan?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
You're going to have to get back to us in writing, unless you wish to stay past 5:30—
Conservative
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
Colleagues, please. Perhaps that finishes this round.
Mrs. Vignola, you have two minutes. I have to cut everyone off in order to get our time in.
Colleagues, please show some respect for Mrs. Vignola. It is her time.
Go ahead, Mrs. Vignola.
Bloc
Julie Vignola Bloc Beauport—Limoilou, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Duclos, does Shared Services Canada know who is responsible for the development, implementation and testing of the Canada Border Services Agency, or CBSA, Assessment and Revenue Management system, known as CARM?
Does Public Services and Procurement Canada, or PSPC, have oversight, so as to prevent another Phoenix or ArriveCAN from happening?
