Government Operations Committee on May 5th, 2026

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

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

We'll go to Mr. Osborne, please. Welcome back.

[Tom Osborne, Liberal, Cape Spear, NL]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have a question, Mr. President, but it's probably in jest.

If these books—the budget and the estimates—are political, can you tell me why they're blue?

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[Tom Osborne, Liberal, Cape Spear, NL]

At any rate, I'll get to my real question.

Mr. President, in these geopolitical times, it's not just nice but essential to have strategic investments such as national defence investments, the Build Canada Homes investments and the major projects, but we also have a goal as a government to balance the books.

Can you talk about areas in which we have seen progress in terms of the comprehensive expenditure review and what the plans are over the next couple of years so that we can see the reductions that taxpayers are looking for?

[Shafqat Ali, Liberal, Brampton—Chinguacousy Park, ON]

It's a really important question. As we all know, we're facing global instability. We are facing an affordability issue. We are seeing a crisis in gas and other sectors. We are in a tariff war.

We have to focus on the priorities that matter most to Canadians: moving from reliance to resilience, building the strongest economy in the G7, securing our borders and investing in energy, infrastructure and the Canadian Armed Forces. That's exactly what we're laser-focused on.

Our comprehensive expenditure review was.... A mandate was given by Canadians to balance our operational budget in three years and to find savings to invest in areas in which investment was needed the most. That is exactly what we are focused on. That's where you see $48 billion for defence support. It's to provide modern equipment and training to men and women in uniform who are securing our borders and can protect our sovereignty and build Canada strong. We are investing in infrastructure.

Finding those underperforming initiatives and investing in Build Canada Homes to build affordable homes is the focus of this government and the focus of this exercise, which means more high-paying jobs in other sectors.

For example, we're hiring 1,000 RCMP officers and 1,000 CBSA officers. In defence, recruitment is at a 30-year high. Those are the investments we are making and focused on.

At the same time, we're trying to bring our public service to a sustainable level to balance our operational budget in the next three years.

[Tom Osborne, Liberal, Cape Spear, NL]

We saw a 10% reduction last year in the hiring of consultants. We are focused on achieving a 20% reduction over the next two to three years. Can you tell me what policies and what efforts are in place to ensure, as we reduce these consultants, that we have in-house expertise?

To go a step further, are there plans to build on that expertise? What are those plans?

[Shafqat Ali, Liberal, Brampton—Chinguacousy Park, ON]

This is a really important question. There are some services that critically rely on consultants or contracts, such as the renovation of Centre Block, shipbuilding or providing health services in indigenous communities. We have to rely on those contracts and consultants, but having management consultants has come down. That was about 46% last year. It has decreased.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Thank you, Mr. Osborne.

Thank you for being with us again today, Mr. Matthews. I think you're back with your team on Thursday. We'll look forward to seeing you then.

We will dismiss you. Thank you for being with us.

[Shafqat Ali, Liberal, Brampton—Chinguacousy Park, ON]

Are we done, Chair?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Yes.

[Shafqat Ali, Liberal, Brampton—Chinguacousy Park, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Colleagues, quickly before we leave, Thursday at noon is our cut-off for the witnesses for the buy Canada study, please.

When we're back from our break, we will be doing a couple of days of the CER report. We will do the buy Canada, and then we'll also squeeze in the PBO on the mains before we have to report back the mains. Then we'll have our vote on the mains as well.

Please get your witnesses for the buy Canada study in to the clerk by Thursday at noon.

Again, thank you for being with us. If there's nothing else, we will adjourn.