Debates of Nov. 22nd, 2024

Reference to Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Mr. Speaker, if anyone needs to apologize, it is the member. She continues to meddle in the business of my community for her own political fortune and for her party's political fortune. On the irrelevant question from her—

[The Acting Speaker, Bloc, Gabriel Ste-Marie]

The hon. member for London—Fanshawe is rising on a point of order.

[Lindsay Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I cannot understand why the member does not want to follow the rules of this place. The member for Edmonton Strathcona is clearly doing her job as a foreign affairs critic and as a member of Parliament in the House. She is standing up for communities; it is not meddling to do so.

[The Acting Speaker, Bloc, Gabriel Ste-Marie]

Questions and comments.

The hon. member for Louis‑Saint‑Laurent.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

First of all, I want to thank my colleague for giving the beginning of his speech in French. I deeply appreciate that.

He mentioned the word “slush” a lot. It is exactly the same expression we have in French, so he can use “slush” in both French and English.

I would like to come back to the substance of the matter, which is actually quite heavy.

We are here because nearly $400 million has not been properly managed. It was not one incident, or two or even three. It was not a small miscalculation here and there. This happened about 186 times. The official opposition is not the one saying it. The Auditor General looked at all this under a microscope. Four out of every five projects that were studied in this green fund were mismanaged.

Has the member ever witnessed such mismanagement of public funds during his political and business career?

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his explanation about the French word for “slush”. I will now use it in French.

This is unprecedented. There are 186 cases we know about. There could be way more than that. It could go much deeper than $400 million and 186 cases.

I still cannot comprehend how we can accept that this happened in Canada. I have had different experiences in countries where corruption has become a culture, and I do not want corruption to become a culture in Canada. That is why we have to be very careful.

The government has a responsibility to do the right thing, show the documents and make sure that people who misuse funds for personal use are accountable for their actions.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague speaks so well and is always so well informed.

I want to ask him, similar to what I asked another colleague of mine, about the magnitude and weight of this and how important it is. Despite the 186 instances of conflict of interest that were found by the Auditor General when she did an audit, we know she did not even audit all of the contracts. Even one instance would have been enough to question the SDTC program and here we have 186.

Can he speak to how big this is and why it is so important that all of the documents relating to it are put forward unredacted?

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Mr. Speaker, there are 186 cases that we know about. That is beyond any comprehension whatsoever. It is beyond belief that we are still debating this while government members are sitting on their hands rather than handing over the documents. The government should show some respect to Canadians for the mismanagement and misuse of their funds.

[The Acting Speaker, Bloc, Gabriel Ste-Marie]

Since the time provided for debate has expired for today, the House will resume consideration of the privilege motion on Monday, November 25, at 11 a.m.

Pursuant to Standing Order 94, I wish to inform hon. members that Private Members' Business will be suspended on that day.

It being 2:30 p.m., the House stands adjourned until next Monday at 11 a.m. pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 2:30 p.m.)