Government Operations Committee on Aug. 21st, 2024

[Stéphane Cousineau]

Yes. We worked with real estate agents to actually visit 21 properties, absolutely.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

You selected the property that had close to the lowest cost. Is that correct?

[Stéphane Cousineau]

Mr. Chair, it was among the lowest costs, exactly.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

You saved taxpayers roughly $3 million in renovations of the old property. Is that correct?

[Stéphane Cousineau]

Mr. Chair, we did indeed. Actually purchasing a new residence will prevent our having to invest in the renovations that were required.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

You're saving taxpayers 50% in monthly costs with the new property. Is that correct?

[Stéphane Cousineau]

Mr. Chair, absolutely, that is correct, and I want to clarify that it's cheaper because we will be tax-exempt, thanks to the Vienna Convention.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

You won't be paying taxes on this new property but you were paying taxes on the old one, so that's saving money for the taxpayer.

In terms of the life-cycle costs, you mentioned about $115,000 in savings annually, which over, let's say, 50 years of owning this building is going to be about $5 million in just monthly cost savings to Canadian taxpayers. Is that correct?

[Stéphane Cousineau]

Mr. Chair, absolutely. It is $115,000, which is half of the expenditure we had annually for the previous apartment.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Thank you.

So over the life cycle, that right there is about $5 million in savings for the Canadian taxpayer. Now, after selling the old apartment, the Canadian taxpayer is actually going to be about $4 million ahead in terms of costs on this. Is that correct?

[Stéphane Cousineau]

Mr. Chair, absolutely. If we look at the sale of the current condominium compared with the cost of the new one, we'll be presenting roughly $4 million in savings.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

That's perfect.

The new apartment is accessible, whereas the old apartment was not accessible. Is that correct?

[Stéphane Cousineau]

Mr. Chair, there are a lot of new things that are positive in this new condo, and accessibility is one of them.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

That's wonderful.

In addition to all of these things, there's a value added. You're going to actually be able to host meetings at this new apartment, and you host about 50 meetings per year. You're going to be able to host at this new apartment, which you were not able to do at the old apartment. Is that correct?

[Stéphane Cousineau]

Mr. Chair, this is correct.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Okay. What we have here is a better apartment. We have an upgraded apartment. We have more functionality. It is cheaper and it saves Canadian taxpayers.

The Conservative plan costs more, is less accessible, has less functionality and is less effective, which basically describes the Conservative Party in a nutshell right there. This is incroyable to me.

You're talking about a trillion-dollar trade partnership between Canada and the United States. One-third of that trade goes through my community, so I care about making sure that we have the best consul general and we have the best folks in place and we have the best resources in place. The Conservatives are talking about downgrading the Canada-U.S. partnership and our ability to play hardball, and hardball is what we're playing, because it's a trillion-dollar investment.

I look at what the Liberal government has done to negotiate a NAFTA trade agreement that was for our benefit, that helped our steel industry, that helped our auto industry. You're darn right that we want to upgrade our resources there, not downgrade our resources, which is what the Conservatives have done. That's exactly their playbook, what they did to the Canadian military as well when they were in government. They downgraded investment in our military. Now they want to downgrade investment in our most important trade relationship with our U.S. partnership. That's a shame. Again—

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

That is our time, Mr. Kusmierczyk.

We are going to take a short break. Please be ready at 25 minutes to the hour.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

I call the meeting back to order. We are back in session.

We are going to five minutes with Mrs. Block, please. Go ahead.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Thank you, Chair.

Mr. Cousineau, just before the break, you actually lied to committee, and you did it for partisan purposes. You did it so that Justin Trudeau and his buddy Tom Clark would look good.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

On a point of order, Mr. Chair, we just had this conversation.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Your department—

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

It's not a point of order.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

It is a point of order.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

I'm sorry. It's not.

Can you continue, Mrs. Block?

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Yes. Your department—