I would like to thank my colleague for bringing this motion forward.
As I indicated to the finance minister, who was at our last meeting, the government has a spending problem. When we have a government that spends too much, it's passed on to the taxpayer and to Canadians.
The best way to eliminate this spending problem is to evaluate how the government is overspending. The way we have seen this time and time again is with projects specifically, as well as consultants. I just brought up today the example of the $62 million increase at HICC between the two fiscal years. These three examples are very relevant. They are good examples from which we can learn.
If we look at Phoenix, it's been 10 years since the launch of Phoenix. It's still failing on a regular basis to deliver paycheques properly. Since 2017, the current government has spent over $5 billion responding to Phoenix issues. However, there are still 250,000 outstanding pay issues, many for more than a year. These are public servants who are suffering, in addition to Canadians. They are paying the price of these failing projects.
With ArriveCAN, I know the issue intimately. It was an $80,000 project that ballooned to $64 million. In the House of Commons, members of Parliament voted on a motion to get the money back, and the government has not acted. The funds have not been recouped for this, and we need to find out why.
The benefits delivery modernization program had an original cost of $1.75 billion and has now ballooned to $6.6 billion. It has tripled. In January 2026, there was a backlog of 85,000 new applications, which cannot be processed as a result of the government's failure.
This is an excellent motion that touches on the reasons for the government's inability to deliver successful projects and successful fund reductions. This is at a time when 2.2 million Canadians are visiting food banks. Canadians can't afford a home and there is an $80-billion deficit.
I very much support this motion. The finance minister is aware of my concerns. I made them very clear to him at the last meeting. We need to see some transparency from the government in terms of why it's incapable of reducing its expenditures. Evaluating the cost overruns of these three projects through an independent inquiry is a great step in that direction.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.