Public Accounts Committee on Dec. 2nd, 2025

[Nathalie Séguin]

Exactly. It's transparent.

Customers are free to choose. We've been very transparent about the fact that parcel delivery is a highly competitive field where most of the big players, like Purolator, FedEx, USPS and Amazon, are obviously free to compete in the market at will.

Customers are free to choose the carrier they want. We understand, however, given the labour dispute of recent months, that customers didn't have the luxury of that choice to secure their supply chains.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

I have very little time left and it's important to me that I ask you my second question.

I hear that post office closures in the regions will apparently include offices in Gatineau. I gather from that, then, that Canada Post considers Gatineau a regional postal service location. The same goes for Salaberry-de-Valleyfield.

Can you give us your definition, in writing if necessary, of what constitutes a remote region, a rural region and an urban region?

[Maya Walker]

That is a good question. As a procurement organization.... I would like to take that one away. I don't have the exact definition of the rural and urban locations.

Thank you for the question.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

That is fine. That is exactly what the member was asking for. If you could respond within a couple of weeks, that would be great. Thank you.

[Maya Walker]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Up next is Mr. Kuruc again, for five minutes.

[Ned Kuruc, Conservative, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

Thank you.

I'd like to continue some questioning with Mr. Kochhar, please.

As my colleague was saying.... You were explaining...or maybe I want clarity. You consult stakeholders—McKinsey may or may not be one of them—and then you bring your immigration recommendations to the government. Is that correct?

[Harpreet S. Kochhar]

That is correct, yes.

[Ned Kuruc, Conservative, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

The current government, which is the Liberal government, or the last government, which was the Liberal government, would have the final word on saying yes or no. Is that correct?

[Harpreet S. Kochhar]

Actually, the procedure is to table it to Parliament. That is our recommendation from the minister. That is how it is.

[Ned Kuruc, Conservative, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

Thank you for that clarity.

In a ploy that happened a few years ago, there was advertising of free health care for non-citizens in Canada, or it was advertising of free health care for people to come to Canada. Was McKinsey involved in that or were there other stakeholders involved? Or was it just a government decision to run that?

[Harpreet S. Kochhar]

Mr. Chair, I'd like to clarify. Nobody advertises free health care. What we do put out on our social media is that if you are coming to Canada to assist the people, you will get health care three months after you arrive here, depending upon the provincial.... That is just an attempt to be very transparent. This is not something—

[Ned Kuruc, Conservative, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

It was advertised, though. Is that correct?

[Harpreet S. Kochhar]

This is put on the social media recurrently every year. This is done just to make sure that those who are making choices to come to Canada actually know what are the other.... We also put other aspects on there: our settlement services and others that are available. That is also there.

[Ned Kuruc, Conservative, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

Sure, but that would be considered advertising, meaning to entice people to come to Canada. Hence, you advertised something. Is that correct?

[Harpreet S. Kochhar]

We don't use the word “advertising”. We're not advertising. We are putting some principles and policy pieces on the web just to inform our clients that these are the things they should expect when they are in Canada.

[Ned Kuruc, Conservative, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

Okay. Before doing that, did you consult? You said earlier that you consulted over 1,200 stakeholders. Was anyone in the health care industry consulted about that?

[Harpreet S. Kochhar]

We do consult multiple different associations. I believe—and I can check and come back to you—that the Canadian Medical Association was one of those consulted.

[Ned Kuruc, Conservative, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

Okay. I'll end off with this, actually. Could the IRCC provide that list of consultants or stakeholders? Is that okay? Could you table that for us?

Is that fine, Chair?

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

You can certainly ask for it, Mr. Kuruc. You have that right. The department can respond if it sees fit, and then we can have a bit of a tug-of-war if we don't like the answer. You can certainly ask for that. Are you doing that?

Would it be possible for you to table with the committee the list of stakeholders who were involved in this process that Mr. Kuruc is discussing here?

[Harpreet S. Kochhar]

I'll strive to actually get that precise information to you.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Williamson]

Thank you very much.

You have about a minute and a half, Mr. Kuruc.

[Ned Kuruc, Conservative, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

I don't mean to be super aggressive in my line of questioning, but so often when we sit in these public accounts committees we're left to figure out what went wrong. I understand that different procedures have been put into place, but I do believe that a lot of sectors in this country have been affected by rapid immigration and a breakdown of our immigration system, and we have to go back and figure out what happened there.

Just to be clear, was or wasn't McKinsey involved in that advertising of health care for non-citizens?

[Harpreet S. Kochhar]

McKinsey was not involved in any of those messages we put out.

Again, Mr. Chair, I would say that is not advertising. That is being transparent on one of our policies.