Evidence of meeting #34 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was documents.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Rosemarie Falk Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster—Meadow Lake, SK
I have a point of order, Chair.
In terms of relevance, I'm hearing about COVID, but I'm not hearing about anything in the amendment to the motion.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
The speaker is covering the context of the workload that would be put on public servants, so it is relevant.
Ms. Khalid, you have the floor.
Liberal
Iqra Khalid Liberal Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
That's exactly it. When I'm giving all of these examples, I'm talking about what I've seen in the past. I'm talking about where we are standing today in this committee. We have stood here many times in the past in various different committees to no purpose, from my point of view.
We're talking about trying to build an efficient and democratic place here. We're trying to talk about the respect for public servants and the work that they do. I'm merely providing examples as to how I've seen this happen and not happen in the past.
To my next point, I was talking about service delivery. When we're talking about millions of pages of documents that need to be translated, and we're given such a short time, potentially, as is written in this amendment, to do it, why are we taking away the resources from actual delivery of services to Canadians? These are resources, as we've established, and as members across the way have also established, that are very necessary in order to provide Canadians the support that they deserve and the support that they expect. Why are we taking away these resources from providing actual service delivery to them rather than actually sitting here and debating an amendment to a motion that is taking away those resources from that?
Mr. Chair, I am quite perplexed. I had come here—because I vice-chair two opposition-led committees—in the hopes that it would be a nice, substantive, good committee where we can talk about the genuine issues that Canadians are really championing, whether it's dealing with cost of living, providing reforms to our employment insurance or working with the provinces to make sure that gig workers are provided the supports that they need. Instead, I find myself sitting here debating an amendment to a motion as to why we should not be wasting government resources to provide millions of pages of documents, and use government resources to translate all of them, knowing that members across the way who are requesting them are actually not going to read those millions of pages, and then also knowing that we have—
Conservative
Rosemarie Falk Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster—Meadow Lake, SK
I have a point of order, Chair.
Conservative
Rosemarie Falk Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster—Meadow Lake, SK
There's been a lot of talk about respect, and to imply that we would or would not do something.... I just find it pretty disrespectful, because that's not the type of member of Parliament that I am. I try to put my best forward. I try to prepare. The documents we get, my office and I read them, so I take offence at that. I would just ask that respect be applied equally across the table, Chair.
Liberal
Liberal
Iqra Khalid Liberal Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON
It's a definite reminder, Chair, and 100% absolutely fair—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
I'm sorry; excuse me. I would ask both sides to respect each other.
You have the floor, Madame Khalid.
Liberal
Iqra Khalid Liberal Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON
Thank you very much, Chair, and you're absolutely right. I should not be so presumptuous as to assume that members across the way who are requesting millions of pages of documents within 30 days are not going to read those documents within 30 days also.
The point I was trying to make is that when a committee has the opportunity to bring in witnesses—and my understanding is that witnesses are coming in—and to be strategic, specific and more efficient about the types of documents that they're looking for from officials, then why would we want to do a blanket search and put our public service through such a hassle in order to...?
I'll just leave it at that, Mr. Chair, but I am hopeful that we can come to a resolution on this amendment. I'm happy to speak with members across the way as well, to see how we can find efficiencies and work together with the public service, with the committee members, all of them, and try to get to a collective objective that helps Canadians and that respects Canadian tax dollars as well.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Liberal
Liberal
Natilien Joseph Liberal Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Before I start, I'd like to congratulate my colleagues Mr. Généreux, Ms. Larouche, Mr. Lefebvre, Mr. Genuis and Mrs. Falk, who have been here for a long time and have gained a great deal of experience. What surprises me is that they're falling into the Bloc Québécois's trap. When I hear Mr. Généreux say that he will support this motion, I can clearly see that he has fallen into the trap.
Liberal
Natilien Joseph Liberal Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
On a point of order, Mr. Chair, members have to speak directly to the chair.
Liberal
Liberal
Natilien Joseph Liberal Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I was congratulating my colleagues, because they're very experienced. Despite that, they're still falling into the trap.
Earlier, Mr. Généreux and Mr. Lefebvre talked about figures. There was some false information. I listened carefully. The next time they speak to Canadians, they should give Canadians real information, not false information. That's very dangerous. I'm going to help them out a little.
In terms of the figures for the region—
Conservative
Éric Lefebvre Conservative Richmond—Arthabaska, QC
Mr. Chair, I can't let the member say that I misled Canadians. The figures I mentioned have been reported in a number of national media outlets. The member is saying that I misled Canadians.
I would ask him to withdraw his remarks, please.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
Thank you for that.
I hear the term “misled” used in the House of Commons on a regular basis, as well as in committees. Members should be judicious with their choice of words, but I'm not here to lecture any of you.
Go ahead, Monsieur Joseph.
Liberal
Natilien Joseph Liberal Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I will even withdraw what I said and apologize to my colleague.
Let us talk about numbers. In the Atlantic region, on January 26, 2026, there was a backlog of 3,038 claims. On February 28, 2026, there were 1,364. Now that it's April, it's no longer 1,364 claims. In the Quebec region—this is very important, because it's near and dear to my heart—there were 11,535 outstanding claims on January 26, 2026. There were 9,222 on February 28, 2026. Now that it's April, there are fewer. In the Ontario region, there were 34,544 outstanding claims on January 26, 2026. There were 24,496 on February 28, 2026. In the western region and the territories, there were 35,112 outstanding claims on January 26, 2026. On February 28, 2026, there were 31,515.
I'm not going to go through all the figures. There are other regions, and some are waiting. I'm not going to make up numbers here so as not to distort the information. That isn't something I do. Despite the backlog, work has been done quickly. That much is clear. That work is phenomenal. We aren't going to divert resources.
This motion makes no sense. It's going to cost a great deal of money and resources. I don't know. I hear my colleagues talking about millions of pages; that's going to cost a great deal of resources and money.
Our officials, Mr. Chair, are not robots. We'll say it.
I'd like to remind my colleagues of something or get back to basics: the backlogs of old age security claims are the topic of today's discussion. Since the start of the year, the department's teams have been working tirelessly to process all the claims. The inventory and the work are going very well, even though it isn't finished. As an example, on January 26, there was a backlog of 3,038 outstanding claims for the Atlantic region. A month later, on February 28, there were 1,364 outstanding claims left.
Why am I telling you that? It's because, although the work is progressing, we won't stop until all the claims have been processed. I'd also like to point out that these claims are mainly paper-based, contain errors and ask our teams to assist Canadians through the process. Above all, it's important to know that an error could affect the benefits that a senior might receive for the rest of their life. I'm talking about a whole lifetime, Mr. Chair, the rest of their life. That makes precision even more important—
Conservative
Rosemarie Falk Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster—Meadow Lake, SK
I have a point of order, Mr. Chair. It's about relevance.
What MP Joseph is saying is not what the amendment is. This isn't about claim numbers. We would like to see that information produced, but that has nothing to do with what the amendment is.
I will note, too, Mr. Chair, that I'm making a note of the latitude that you are giving members in this and the precedent that it's setting of going off of the topic at hand.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
Thank you, Ms. Falk.
I'm listening very intently and closely to both sides of the debate, and I will call somebody to relevancy if they stray away from the amendment to the motion. Mr. Joseph's comments are specifically related to the statistics and the documents that led to the motion being introduced.
Mr. Joseph, you have the floor.
Liberal
Natilien Joseph Liberal Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
That was the case, because I was talking about the motion and our seniors, so I will continue.
This isn't the time to divert resources from the department, which is working on getting the situation back to normal. This isn't the time to ask it to produce millions and millions of pages of documents that may not even be reviewed and that will be put in a corner or thrown away somewhere. I know Mrs. Falk doesn't like it when members say this, but we're talking about millions of documents. Unless Mrs. Falk has 15 people working with her in her office, I'm not quite sure how she's going to examine millions and millions of documents to find solutions.
Conservative
Rosemarie Falk Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster—Meadow Lake, SK
[Inaudible—Editor]. Just be respectful.
