Debates of Jan. 31st, 2023

Government Services and Procurement

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Liberal government, inflation is at a 40-year high as a result of the government's inflationary spending. The government has handed over $100 million in contracts to McKinsey & Company, with one contract not sunsetting until the year 2100. While Canadians have never—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I need to interrupt for a second.

There seems to be an issue with the interpretation.

The interpretation is now functioning.

I would ask the hon. member for Calgary Midnapore to take it from the top, please.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Make it more comprehensible this time.

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Liberal government, inflation is at a 40-year high as a result of the government's inflationary spending. The government has handed over $100 million in contracts to McKinsey & Company, with one contract not sunsetting until the year 2100. While Canadians have never had it so bad, Liberal insiders and consultants have never had it so good.

Why does the Prime Minister and the government not come clean and tell us how much they promised Dominic Barton and McKinsey & Company?

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, what I am observing today is an interesting trend where the Conservatives are trying to create a bogeyman to distract from the fact that we are working hard to make sure that families that are struggling get the supports they need to do well during challenging times. I am beginning to believe that the Conservatives actually view it to be in their interest to continue to have Canadians experience problems because they never introduce solutions.

On this side of the House, we are going to continue to make investments that are going to reduce costs for child care, that are going to reduce costs for dental care, that are going to provide supports to low-income renters. With or without them, we will do what is necessary to make sure that people can feed their kids and keep a roof over the heads during difficult times across Canada and around the world.

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is not just the Conservatives who have questions. The New Democrats have questions too, and it is not just about McKinsey. While the Liberals have awarded $160 million to McKinsey with this 100-year deal, companies such as McKinsey and Deloitte, which has ten times the amount of money, along with KPMG, are raking in billions of taxpayer dollars without accountability or transparency.

Canadians deserve to know exactly who is making decisions for the government, how much they are getting paid and to whom in the Liberal government they are connected. Will the government commit to extending the review to include all of its outsourcing contracts?

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, as the member well knows, Canada has a reputation around the world as having the highest degree of excellence in the way it conducts its business and contracts. That is something of which we are deeply proud.

I understand that members in opposition want to foment issues, but there is an excellent opportunity in committee to ask these questions directly. If members want to have real answers, then there will be the opportunity for mature, reasonable discussions during that period of time. However, talking down the way in which we conduct contracts does not behoove anybody.

Foreign Affairs

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the people of Ukraine, Iran, Haiti and Myanmar deserve our support. The government constantly pats itself on the back for adding individuals to the sanctions list, but yesterday we learned that the government had only seized one asset in six months. The Liberals claim sanctions are a key piece of our foreign response, but there is no enforcement, there is no investigation and there is almost no seizing of assets.

When will the Liberals stop the political theatre and start getting serious on our sanctions regime?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, indeed, we have imposed extremely strong sanctions against Russian oligarchs, Belarusian oligarchs, Haiti elite members and Iranians. We want to make sure that now we implement new legislation that we have passed, which will allow us to not only seize assets but to forfeit them.

I look forward to working with the member on this very important duty we have. We are the first country in the world doing this, and we will lead.

Seniors

[Joanne Thompson, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Mr. Speaker, the pandemic has highlighted long-standing and systemic challenges in Canada's long-term care system. Could the Minister of Seniors please update the House on how the government is ensuring that seniors have access to safe, reliable and high-quality care in our long-term care homes across the country?

[Kamal Khera, Liberal, Minister of Seniors]

Mr. Speaker, seniors deserve the best quality of care rooted in dignity and respect regardless of where they live. That is why we welcome today the residence centre standards, released by HSO and CSA, that will make a tremendous difference in the quality of care seniors receive in long-term care homes.

I want to take a moment to thank both organizations for the extensive consultations they have done with Canadians, seniors, health care workers and care givers in creating these standards. We will continue to work with provinces and territories in their efforts to support long-term care homes in their jurisdictions.

Ethics

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Mr. Speaker, time and time again we see Liberal cabinet ministers breaking ethics laws to help their friends and Liberal insiders. The Liberals will funnel money and lucrative contracts to them. They will take illegal vacations. They will even interfere in criminal prosecution to help their friends. After eight years under the Prime Minister, Canadians have never had it so bad and Liberal insiders, friends and high-priced consultants have never had it so good.

When will the Liberals stop the corruption and start putting the needs of Canadians first?

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, again, saying that Canadians have never had it worse is an absolutely ludicrous statement. There have been all kinds of instances in history where Canadians have faced hard times and dealt with difficult situations. Whether it was in great wars or in difficult economic storms that took the world, Canadians rose to those occasions and met them with strength and determination to build a stronger future thereafter. The notion, as Canadians are facing anxiety and as they are looking at global tumult, that they should think they are in the worst position they have ever been is simply irresponsible.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Mr. Speaker, throughout history and up until this point, governments were there for their people when they were facing hard times, but not those Liberals. They are there for insiders.

The Prime Minister helped his buddies get off criminal charges. The Prime Minister took an illegal vacation. The intergovernmental affairs minister gave lucrative contracts to family members. The Prime Minister's hand-picked finance minister tried to give a half-billion dollars to WE. The trade minister just gave tens of thousands of dollars to her bestie. Canadians are lined up at food banks; Liberal insiders are lined up to get rich.

What is it going to take for one of those corrupt ministers to resign?

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I would ask that we all watch the language we use, and I would be interested to see if the member opposite would use a term like that outside the chamber. This chamber should be met with the same decorum inside as out.

The party opposite had the opportunity for 10 years to care about the issues it is now talking about. I would ask those members, if they said they were there, where they were for those 1.5 million Canadians who now have jobs who did not under the Conservative government. Where were they for over a million individuals who were in poverty and suffering when the Conservatives were in government and never talked about poverty?

It is a bit rich, and they should reflect on their rhetoric.

Health

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, in the last nine months the Liberals spent $6.7 million for just 10 people to stay at a Calgary airport hotel. That is $670,000 per person. There is no justification for this. COVID quarantine restrictions were eased long before this time. That $670,000 could have bought a beautiful home in Calgary, a dream that, after eight years, is out of reach for so many people precisely because of Liberal waste like this.

I have two questions. How many other hotels did this happen at? Has anybody been fired for this waste?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, we are all very mindful of the terrible pain, the large number of deaths and the even larger number of hospitalizations that we have seen in Canada over COVID-19. That is why our primary responsibility has been, and remains, to protect the safety and the health of Canadians, including the tens of thousands of people who had to access designated quarantine facilities. Because of these measures, and vaccinations in addition, we have saved together tens of thousands of lives and tens of billions of dollars in economic costs.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

I just want to remind the hon. members how it works. One asks a question and one gets an answer. One does not continue to ask questions while the question is being answered. I just want to remind everyone that is how it works. It is making it very difficult to hear both sides. We hear one side very well, but the other side makes it very difficult.

The hon. member for Hastings—Lennox and Addington.

Ethics

[Shelby Kramp-Neuman, Conservative, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Prime Minister, Canadians have never had it so bad while Liberal lobbyists have never had it so good. Yet another lucrative government contract was handed out by the Liberal Minister of Diversity to line the pockets of insiders. This is insulting to Canadians and it has to stop.

Excuses do not pay the bills. How can this continue to happen without any consequence? Will the minister do the only honourable option he has left and pay the money back?

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I ask what the member opposite means when they say that Canadians have never had it so bad. What would they say to Canadians who for the first time are having universal child care, are seeing their costs cut in half and that it is going to be $10 a day? What would they say to those who have children and who, for the first time, are going to be able to make sure that they have dental care for every single child across the country? What would they say to the seniors, whom the Conservatives cut off by raising the eligibility age to 67 and are now collecting it at 65? What would they say to the 1.5 million people who have a job now, who did not when the Conservatives were in power?

Health

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, on February 7, the first ministers will finally meet with the aim of increasing health transfers. This was not a foregone conclusion. As recently as mid-November, the Minister of Health was calling this request futile. After years of repeated calls from Quebec, the provinces and the Bloc Québécois, Ottawa is finally taking note of the crisis in the hospitals. Quebec and the provinces are reiterating their demand that the federal government cover 35% of the costs.

With one week to go before the meeting, will the minister finally agree to their demand?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate this important question.

What all of the health ministers in Canada, including myself, are committed to is continuing to work together to look after the health of people and the health of workers in Canada.

Canadians have been through some very difficult times over the past few years. We know that we will have immense challenges in the coming years with the rising costs of technology and drugs, aging in the general population and among health care workers, and the challenges they will face.

We will continue to do this collaborative work together.

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the federal government has been aware of health care funding needs for 28 months now but has not yet done anything about it. We do not need a working meeting on February 7. We need an agreement.

As of right now, 20,000 Quebeckers have been waiting for surgery for a year. We know that each three- to four-week delay in cancer surgery increases the rate of mortality by 6% to 8%.

When will this government understand that increasing health transfers is a vital matter of urgent importance?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, as my colleague, the Minister of Health, said, all Canadians are deeply concerned about this issue. We share that concern with all Canadians, including Quebeckers.

We have had important conversations with first ministers and ministers of health from across the country. This evening, I am meeting with the Premier of Nova Scotia. Tomorrow, I am meeting with the Premier of British Columbia. These conversations are promising.

We have consistently said we are prepared to provide more financial support to the provinces if we have assurances that we will get the results Canadians expect. That is exactly what we are going to do.

Justice

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Jonathan Gravel committed a violent sexual assault but avoided going to prison after eight years of legal proceedings. Instead, he received a 20-month suspended sentence that he can serve in the community. Why? It is because the Prime Minister, with the help of the Bloc Québécois, passed Bill C‑5.

When the sentence was handed down, the Crown prosecutor, Alexis Dinelle, said, “Now [the Prime Minister] and the Minister of Justice will have to answer to the victims of sexual assault.”

Does the Prime Minister now realize that Bill C‑5 is a monumental mistake?