International Trade Committee on Feb. 27th, 2024

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

I don't think the chair should be using the term “misinformation”. It's completely inappropriate.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Well, that is what's being said.

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Madam Chair, I'll put my figures up against that gentleman's any time.

When I vote against their budget allocations, I'm voting for my constituents, to remove this government from office because of their ineptitude. They have destroyed the Canadian economy. They have—

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Now you're completely off topic. You're not talking about the motion whatsoever. Get back on focus here, Mr. Baldinelli.

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

I will do that. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Again, before the pandemic, the Canadian tourism industry was valued at $105 billion. Today it is down to $80 billion, largely because of failed Liberal pandemic policies like the mandatory use of ArriveCAN.

At a time when many economists are predicting rough waters ahead for the Canadian economy, the Liberals continue to waste precious taxpayer money on this useless app. Like a bad dream that never ends, despite the end of the mandatory use of ArriveCAN, a new issue—the more scandalous issue that continues to dominate our time and attention today—is the spending that has been involved with regard to ArriveCAN.

We must learn and ensure it never happens again.

In comments I made to the House last fall, on November 1, 2023, I indicated:

A lot happened during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, which stretched over three years, from 2020 to 2022. It was a time when the Liberal government tried to give itself full spending authority without any opposition scrutiny. This was in the spring of 2020. Then, the Liberal government thought it was a good idea to prorogue Parliament in the middle of a raging global pandemic later that summer. After more than a year of social distancing, public health restrictions, masking and vaccines, the hypocritical Liberal government plunged the country [then] into a pandemic election.

It is truly unthinkable, if one goes back to look at it. However, for the Liberals, it has never been about good and sound policy. It always was and always has been about politics. That is why we are here this evening, unfortunately, to discuss another disastrous Liberal policy objective, which did little to protect Canadians during the pandemic and almost single-handedly ruined any chance of a tourism recovery in 2022.

I went on to say:

We have since covered a wide range of topics and issues impacting Canadian trade.

I was appointed to the Standing Committee on International Trade in February 2022.

While some people might not realize this, tourism has important elements of trade, as an export industry. When COVID-19 hit our country, tourism was hit first and hardest. We all knew early on that it would take the longest to recover.

When we fast-forward more than three years, since the federal government agreed to close our international borders, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are still being felt in many parts of Canada's tourism economy. Recovery is not equal. Some areas are recovering more quickly than others, particularly those in rural, remote and northern communities.

Further, thousands of tourism operators across the country continue to struggle with high levels of debt after taking out pandemic loans, through no fault of their own, and with a tourism visitation base that simply has not returned to be as strong as it was before COVID.

Domestically, Canadians are now scaling back their spending and travel plans, impacted by stubborn inflation, increasing carbon taxes and higher interest rates, which make everything more expensive and life more unaffordable. Internationally, visitors are simply not coming as they did before COVID.

After eight years under the Liberal Prime Minister, Canada's tourism reputation has been damaged, and our country's overall tourism economy has lost its competitive edge to other countries. For reasons, many related to the Liberal mismanagement of our tourism economy, visitors are simply not making Canada their destination of choice as they once did.

The reputational impacts on Canada's tourism industry that were caused by the mandatory use of the ArriveCAN app should not be downplayed or ignored. When this dysfunctional $54-million app—

That was at the time; this was last year.

—was made mandatory for anyone entering Canada, the issues faced by travellers were countless. Moreover, the issues were being faced by just about every person trying to arrive here, at every point of entry, ranging from major airports to land borders and international bridge crossings.

My riding of Niagara Falls—

I repeat this because it's huge for my community.

—is the number one leisure tourism destination in Canada, employing over 40,000 tourism workers. Before the pandemic, it was generating over $2.1 billion in tourism receipts. My riding includes [again] the city of Niagara Falls, the town of Fort Erie and the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake. As a border riding, we also have four international bridge crossings, with at least one bridge in each municipality.

From day one, simply put, the ArriveCAN app was an utter failure. Its impacts were so severe that I felt compelled to bring forward a motion to study this issue at committee. Upon agreement, we undertook this study, which eventually produced the sixth report, along with the motion and the amendment that we are debating here today. While I sincerely appreciate our committee's work on producing this report, the fact is that new and very troubling information about ArriveCAN has surfaced, beyond its astronomical price tag, which now stands at approximately $54 million. These issues should be of great concern to all parliamentarians, partisan politics aside—

I think this is important, Madam Chair. I raised concerns about the scandal of spending habits going back to November 1, 2023, and at that time it was $54 million, and I say this again:

These issues should be of great concern to all parliamentarians...no matter one's political stripe. New allegations of misconduct, including identity theft, forged resumés, contractual theft, fraudulent billing, price-fixing and collusion involving contractors, ghost contractors and senior bureaucrats have emerged. Canadian taxpayers deserve answers.

I look forward to hearing from my colleague, the member for Calgary Midnapore, as she expands on some of these shocking revelations.

There is a reason we now call the app and its implications “arrive scam”. Given that new information about ArriveCAN that we simply cannot ignore has come to light, it is only reasonable to support this amendment to the motion to extend the ArriveCAN study to get to the bottom of these issues. As badly as the Liberal-NDP coalition wants to move on and forget about its mistakes, bad decision-making and reckless spending, there is still a lot of unfinished business to take care of from the pandemic years, and the ArriveCAN app absolutely must be included in this.

Madam Chair, I said this on November 1, 2023. Those comments are relevant today. That is why I have put forward this motion that we include study of the ArriveCAN app as part of our supply chain study.

I'll finish off those comments that I made a year ago, almost.

I see a trend growing here, whether it is the refusal to review $15.5 billion in potentially ineligible pandemic wage benefit payments because it is not worth the effort, wasting more than $600 million on a risky pandemic election or not caring that $54 million was required to develop the dysfunctional ArriveCAN app. The reckless and wasteful NDP-Liberal coalition has become far too complacent with the tax dollars of hard-working Canadians. It must realize it has a spending addiction that is costing Canadians and the country dearly. It is our job as the opposition to hold the government to account. That is why I support my colleague's amendment to the motion, to amend the sixth report to include reference to the $54 million of hard-earned Canadian tax dollars wasted on the application, the inaccurate evidence government officials provided during the committee's investigation, the serious allegations of fraudulent contract practices and the statement made by the RCMP that it is investigating criminality in the contracts that were awarded. Now the Auditor General of Canada wants to update Canadians on where all the money went.

Again, these statements were made on November 1, 2023, yet here we are again. The opposition members, in the NDP and Bloc, as well as the Liberals, voted against that.

Canadians deserve answers. People of Niagara deserves answers. This government's obstinance in removing the application until the fall of 2022 denied tourism recovery to those in my community and throughout Canada who are looking for it so badly. To add insult to injury, it is a government that feigned interest in responding to the concerns of our tourism community and simply did not care to ensure that hard-working Canadian taxpayers' dollars would be protected. Instead, we are now continually bombarded by scandalous revelations on how an application that could have been developed over a weekend wound up costing Canadians $54 million.

After eight years in office, the tired and inept government and Prime Minister are not worth the cost. Let us get Canadians the answers they deserve. It is simply the common-sense thing to do.

The shocking results of the Auditor General's report must be followed up on to ensure that it never happens again. How is this relevant to us, the members of the international trade committee? For one, we will immediately begin work on another study, another CBSA digitization project, CARM, which will have major impacts and ramifications for our import, export and brokerage sectors, impacting our supply chains.

Let me just read this. I believe it is the last recommendation, again, from the Auditor General's report. It deals with testing. I believe I've already read it into the record, but I think it's important to do so now, because it is important for our next study. It impacts the supply chain issues we will be facing. We've heard great concerns from stakeholders. They will be coming forward in the next several weeks and days to express their concerns, but we could have some enormous bottlenecks at our border crossings that one has never envisioned.

Again, the last recommendation deals with testing. This is the recommendation from the Auditor General:

Prior to releasing an application or an update, the Canada Border Services Agency—

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

I'm sorry, Mr. Baldinelli. I have to interrupt.

Mr. Cannings, do you have a point?

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Yes. We're approaching five o'clock. I'm just wondering about the ambassador and whether we should abandon—

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

When five o'clock comes, I will be in a position to dismiss and thank the witnesses for being here. The committee wants to hear the ambassador, but if this continues, there's no sense in keeping the ambassador and tying up his time.

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

I would just like to know if we are envisioning hearing from the ambassador today, and if not, when?

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

If not, I think it should be the very next available meeting, which would be Thursday's meeting that we possibly have—

[An hon. member]

[Inaudible—Editor] available?

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

I don't know. I have to ask that question.

Yes, Mr. Arya.

[Chandra Arya, Liberal, Nepean, ON]

Madam Chair, on the point that Mr. Cannings made, we cannot assume that the witnesses will be available on Thursday. Even if they are available, I'm not sure whether we should put them through the same unproductive thing that they faced today. They're all working hard on behalf of their members and their businesses and for the Canadian economy. We can pass legislation only with the voluntary support of Canadians like them who take time, money and effort to guide us, to give their input and to give their suggestions on formulating all the various forms of legislation to benefit Canadians. I don't want us to put them through the same thing again if this is what's to be expected.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Perhaps we could ask our witnesses about their availability for Thursday.

[Chandra Arya, Liberal, Nepean, ON]

Again, Madam Chair, it's not their availability. It is our duty—

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Madam Chair, we can let you put your question to the witness.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Yes.

I'm looking at the witnesses and asking if they're available to come back on Thursday. I apologize for the problems today.

[Ron Lemaire, President, Canadian Produce Marketing Association]

Unfortunately, Madam Chair, I'm booked back to back all day Thursday.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Okay. I apologize.

[René Roy, Chair, Canadian Pork Council]

We may be able to make it, but probably not in person.

[Jeff English, Vice President, Marketing and Communications, Pulse Canada]

We would be the same. Virtually would be an option.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Mr. Chiasson-LeBel, would you be available on Thursday, sir?

[Thomas Chiasson-LeBel, Assistant Professor, Université de l'Ontario français, As an Individual]

Yes, I could free myself up. It's in the same time slot, I imagine.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Yes. It would be the same time slot, sir.

[Thomas Chiasson-LeBel]

Yes, I will free myself up.