Thank you, Mr. Chair.
If I'm here this morning, it's mainly out of geographic interest, since Medicago is located in my town, Quebec. It's also something of a continuation of the work I did for a long time when I sat on the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates, which was tasked with addressing various issues related to the pandemic.
Let's recall a certain contract that caused quite a stir at the time, namely the $237‑million contract with former Liberal MP Frank Baylis for the manufacture of 10,000 respirators whose actual market value was $137 million. No one has ever been able to explain why Frank Baylis had to be paid an extra $100 million to manufacture these respirators, not to mention that an assessment showed that we would never need that many of them. Indeed, only a hundred or so respirators were used during the pandemic.
This brings me back to the management of contracts and public funds. As it turns out, certain expenses were necessary during the pandemic. Everyone acknowledges the need for them. Let's not forget, however, that the Parliamentary Budget Officer's assessment of the $500 billion spent over the two years of the pandemic revealed that only $300 billion could be explained. There wasn't even any way to shed light on the remaining $200 billion or where that money went. The $300 billion that we're told can be explained includes contracts such as the one given to Mr. Baylis, as well as other sums that were wasted, which happened in the Medicago file that we're currently looking at.
In February, when Mitsubishi Chemical Group decided to pull out entirely, we were surprised to learn that the federal government had spent $173 million without any checks and balances whatsoever. The Government of Quebec loaned some money to the company and had means of getting its money back, but in the federal government's case, we learned that the money was wasted, but in the total absence of control mechanisms, we don't really know what happened.
What's more, we've come to learn that Health Canada didn't do its job. Indeed, because Philip Morris was a shareholder, the company shouldn't have been able to get any federal funds. The case before us is even worse: We've learned through Public Accounts of Canada that an additional $150 million had been sunk into Medicago. From the information available, the amount of money wasted now sits at over $323 million.
The main issue is the lack of accountability. All they do is write it down somewhere in an 800‑page document, as my colleague just showed. One hundred and fifty million dollars up and disappeared without any explanation given. We're told it's only $150 million. There comes a point where enough is enough. The needs were real and were understood, but when things are managed in this way, there needs to be some accountability. We already needed answers about the first $173 million, and now there's more. The amount has doubled.
A company in Quebec simply shut down operations, and people lost their jobs. Some ministers have said they were looking for solutions. Those are the pretty words we expect from Liberal ministers. Not many solutions have been found since February, however. On the contrary, things have gotten worse. We lost $300 million, but no explanation is forthcoming, not to mention the company shouldn't have gotten that money to begin with.
I believe there's an urgent need to get to the bottom of this. The Standing Committee on Health is tasked with authorizing or denying certain expenses. In this case, it hasn't done its job. This file involved Health Canada directly, but Health Canada didn't do its job. Meanwhile, the Department of Industry releases funds, but we're not even able to get any clear explanations. When the media ask questions, they remain unanswered.
Enough is enough. There comes a point where we need answers. Transparency isn't just for when the Conservative Party, the Bloc Québécois or the NDP want answers. Transparency is there for taxpaying Canadians. While people are waiting in line for food because they're out of money, while they keep working and paying taxes, there's a company that decided to go back to Japan after having gotten $300 million. We're told it's not a big deal and we let things go. Quite the contrary, it's very serious. I think there are limits. We cannot accept the unacceptable.
That's why this motion is so important. I hope that the Conservative Party and the Bloc Québécois will have the NDP's support to hold meetings to shed light on this. In the interest of transparency, we want answers about taxpayers' money, because they've had enough.