Public Accounts Committee on Jan. 26th, 2021

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

I am unresolved with that answer. It's not that you're wrong, but I just can't accept that there is any indication from government that it actually has any incentive to settle these cases. I think it's clear that if they were to settle based on the real obligations of the Crown, then we would probably be in the trillions of dollars in terms of what is owed in real time, not just from claims that are based on the future or present value of land, but also past considerations of trust moneys that have been borrowed against for infrastructure—the St. Lawrence and all these other projects.

Is there any avenue through which public accounts can receive information that would reflect the true cost of liability from the Crown to indigenous communities, based on existing legal contracts and treaties?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly Block]

Mr. Huppé, I will allow for a short answer to that question.

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Madam Chair, it's probably going to take longer, so Mr. Huppé can just go ahead and send that to us in writing, if that would be okay. Maybe Mr. Huppé could just report back to the committee on ways that we can best unpack and understand Canada's liability to first nations, Métis, and Inuit across the country.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly Block]

Perfect. I appreciate that suggestion, Mr. Green. We will ask you to provide that to us, Mr. Huppé.

Colleagues, I indicated that we needed at least five minutes to deal with some committee business. Because we have ended our six-minute round, I am proposing that we thank our witnesses for joining us today.

We really appreciate the opportunity to study the public accounts with each one of you. I've appreciated the questions and the answers. I would just give you the opportunity to disconnect from this call so that we can move to our committee business.

[Michael Sabia]

Thank you very much.

[Roch Huppé]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly Block]

Are we good to go, Madam Clerk?

[The Clerk]

Yes, we are.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly Block]

Thank you very much.

Thank you, colleagues, for allowing me to move us into committee business. As I said, I know I indicated five minutes. I'm usually very optimistic in what we can accomplish in that amount of time, but I just wanted to let you know that what we need to do is take a look at the budgets that have been presented to us. Please take your copies of the draft budgets that were sent to you yesterday. These are standard budgets for the studies we are doing, and, as has been explained before, if at the end of the study there are unused funds, they are returned to the general budget for committees. I'm hoping that you had an opportunity to look at them and I would like to know if you have any questions.

Mr. Sorbara, I see your hand up.

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

I have no questions, but are we going quickly through them?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly Block]

It would be my suggestion that we could probably adopt them all together if there are no questions or concerns with any of the budgets that have been presented, if that's acceptable to the committee.

It looks like that is acceptable. Do I have a motion to approve these budgets as presented?

Thank you, Mr. Longfield and Mr. Blanchette-Joncas. It is moved and seconded that we will adopt these budgets.

(Motion agreed to)

Great. That's carried. Thank you so much.

Next, you were provided with a proposed calendar of meetings for January and February. I hope you've also had an opportunity to look at that.

I will let you know that the Auditor General will be tabling a report at the end of February and has asked if the committee would be willing to use one of its meeting times to host a virtual lock-up, much like the one that would normally precede such a tabling. I put that to you. I think we were looking towards the end of February. February 23 might be the date. I can ask the clerk to confirm that.

Do you have any questions or concerns for the proposed calendar?

[The Clerk]

I can confirm that the tabling is proposed for the 25th, and the Auditor General sent a letter to the Speaker this morning confirming that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly Block]

Thank you very much, Angela.

If there are no questions or concerns with the proposed calendar, can we adopt the calendar as presented?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly Block]

That's great. Thank you so much.

Mr. Longfield, I see your hand.

[Lloyd Longfield, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Yes, thanks, Madam Chair.

I wonder if is there any output from this morning's meeting. We don't do a report. We don't do a letter back to the House. We just accept the public accounts. What do we do with this morning's meeting?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly Block]

That's a very good question. I will turn to our clerk, perhaps, to provide us with some guidance.

Then I see your hand, Mr. Blanchette-Joncas.

[The Clerk]

Actually, the analysts are in a better position to answer that.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I would just like to point out that on two occasions during the meeting we lost time due to interpretation problems.

Is it possible to check with the clerk to find out what exactly happened, so that everyone's speaking time is respected, and so that this does not happen again?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly Block]

Thank you very much, Mr. Blanchette-Joncas. I appreciate your raising that issue, and we will certainly try to provide you with that feedback on what occurred during the meeting.

I would now like to turn to André, who has his hand up to answer the question for us.

[André Léonard, Committee Researcher]

Yes, thank you.

With regard to reporting on the public accounts, we usually produce—

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Excuse me, Madam Chair, I have a point of order.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly Block]

Mr. Blanchette-Joncas.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

As I just mentioned, we have no interpretation at the moment.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly Block]

Thank you very much.