Government Operations Committee on Dec. 12th, 2024

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Thank you, gentlemen. That is our time. I'm sorry.

Madame Vignola, please—

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Québec, QC]

—in collaboration with others, will be there to roll out the buyback program.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

I'm sorry, Minister, but your time is up.

Madame Vignola, the floor is yours for two and a half minutes, please.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Minister, very quickly, I'll remind you of the first sentences I said during my last turn to speak. We are not against apple pie, because dental care is good. We are against interference, and the difference is major.

That said, I asked you a question earlier, but you didn't have time to answer it. How much did the Canada Life contract cost for dental care for retired public servants?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Québec, QC]

Ms. Vignola, I know we hear a lot about this issue of interference. However, there is no interference here. On the contrary, there is assistance from the Quebec government because people who can't go to the dentist and the hygienist end up in the hospital, at the—

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Mr. Minister, I'm so sorry to interrupt, but I only have two and a half minutes. It wasn't a question; it was a comment.

My question is this: How much did the Canada Life contract cost for dental care for public service retirees?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Québec, QC]

Okay. I wanted us to make sure that we continue to be positive, as you say. This measure is important for Quebeckers and, in my view, there is no interference. On the contrary, there is support for the Government of Quebec in what we're doing.

As for the exact amount of the contract, I'll ask the deputy minister to answer you.

[Arianne Reza]

I will send a specific answer to the clerk of the committee.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Thank you very much.

I often go to the old Buy and Sell Canada website, which is now CanadaBuys. In the market opportunities section, I see that there are opportunities for cities, municipalities, for example, Peterborough, Calgary, or even for universities, like the University of British Columbia, Concordia University or the University of Ottawa.

How is it that it's not just Government of Canada procurement opportunities on this website? Am I to understand that, from now on, taxpayers are paying not only for Government of Canada offers, but also for all those published across Canada?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Québec, QC]

Actually, it's an invitation, not an obligation. Provinces and, certainly, municipalities are welcome to take advantage of this website that already exists and serves tens of thousands of providers across the country.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

A number of times in recent weeks, your government has mentioned the number of people per riding who are enrolled in the Canadian dental care plan. However, when we do a search, we find the number of people registered, of course, but by province. How can citizens, like the government, access this data by riding?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Give a very brief response, please.

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Québec, QC]

First, as you say, we have easy access to data by province. Second, we have internal data that we're trying to improve because it's not yet sufficiently accurate. That's why the available data is of an order of magnitude of the number of people registered per riding. The work is being expedited as much as possible so that we can give all members these figures.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Thank you.

Mr. Boulerice, please go ahead.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Minister, you were quite kind when you said that the Canadian dental care plan was helping the Government of Quebec. However, I would go further and say that the program helps Quebeckers, first and foremost. Our priority, our primary mission, wasn't to help the Government of Quebec, but to help people who didn't have access to dentists.

You touched on housing. In your opening remarks, you said that the federal government could encourage the construction of affordable housing through long-term leases. How much money and how much land are we talking about? How would that be affordable?

I realize that that's three questions.

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Québec, QC]

They're all very good. It will be difficult to answer all of them correctly.

If you look at the Canada Public Land Bank website, you'll find the land that's already available. I have three in my riding. There are probably some in yours as well. There are currently 83 available lots. There have been three updates in recent months. We started off with 59 parcels, and we're now at 83.

The goal is to build 35,000 units. A lot of that is going to affordable housing, with emphyteutic leases, in the sense that the property—

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

How much of it is for affordable housing? In addition, when we talk about affordability, what are we talking about, and what are we basing it on: people's income or the average rent in the region?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Québec, QC]

It depends on the local definitions. You know the situation in Quebec very well: there are two definitions, one based on people's income and another based on the median rent in the community. It will depend on the cities where these housing projects are developed, as well as the projects submitted. It will also depend on additional support from the Canadian government.

Indeed, it is a very good thing to make land available free of charge, in the very long term, to businesses and non-profit partners, such as housing co-operatives, cities and others. It reduces the cost of land use. Sometimes, however, these partners need additional assistance. That's especially the case for building more deeply affordable housing, particularly social housing, in an environmentally smart way. These units must also be close to public transit and meet appropriate accessibility standards. So that requires additional budgets.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Are you going to invest in that?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Québec, QC]

Yes, our goal is to invest, not only to make these properties available, but also to go further and have deeply affordable housing.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Gentlemen, please, we're past our time.

Mr. Genuis, please go ahead.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

It's good to see you, Minister, and I'm wishing you well on the upcoming shuffle sweepstakes.

You mentioned at the beginning a grading system. I want to ask, if you were to give a letter grade to the effectiveness and integrity of the procurement system over the last nine years, what letter grade would you give?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Québec, QC]

Thank you, MP Genuis.

We've seen each other in many circumstances over the last week. I appreciate the fact that you're asking good questions on procurement and implicitly recognizing that—

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

I'll appreciate when you answer them.

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Québec, QC]

I'm coming to that, obviously.