Debates of Feb. 12th, 2024

Public Services and Procurement

[Stephanie Kusie, Conservative, Calgary Midnapore, AB]

Mr. Speaker, every word I say is true, and the member knows it.

The Prime Minister's arrive scam app is not worth the cost or the corruption. Contractors were paid over $1,000 a day, even though 18% of the invoices for these contracts had no supporting documentation, so we do not even know if the contractors completed the work.

GC Strategies pocketed almost $20 million and yet completed no work itself, and it gets worse: It wrote the requirements for the $25-million contract it won.

I have a simple question for the Prime Minister: How is he going to get our money back?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, once again, the Auditor General identified some contracting practices that were clearly not followed. Under no circumstance is that acceptable. Governments have the responsibility to manage taxpayers' funds in the most effective way possible. That is why we have accepted all of the Auditor General's recommendations.

The good news is that the Border Services Agency and the procurement department had already begun to act to put in place a number of oversight measures before the Auditor General's report, and we look forward to fully implementing everything she suggested.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's ArriveCAN app is not worth the unwarranted costs. The Prime Minister's ArriveCAN app is not worth the lack of accountability for the money spent. The Prime Minister's ArriveCAN app is not worth the Liberal incompetence on basic accounting practices. The Prime Minister's ArriveCAN app is not worth the 10,000 people who were put in quarantine without justification.

The Auditor General said that the government paid too much for the Prime Minister's app. It is not worth the at least $60 million paid by Canadians. It is not worth the corruption. Does the Prime Minister realize that?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, in times of crisis, the Canadian government has two responsibilities. The first is to keep people healthy and safe. The second is to ensure that its internal processes are effective and efficient.

What we know is that, during COVID-19, nearly 70,000 Canadians died, 60 million people needed to cross the border, and we needed to ensure the movement of $1 billion in international trade.

Despite all that, the Auditor General's report that was published this morning shows that the CBSA mismanaged information, which is unacceptable.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we understand now why Liberals voted unanimously against this investigation by the Auditor General on November 2, 2022.

The Prime Minister's ArriveCAN app was supposed to cost $80,000, but it ended up costing at least $60 million. The Prime Minister's ArriveCAN app, with its 750% cost overruns, is not worth the cost for Canadians. GC Strategies, a two-person company that did no actual IT work, was awarded close to $20 million in contracts, and the CBSA could not tell the auditor General who decided to hire GC Strategies and give them millions of dollars.

Does the Prime Minister realize that he is not worth the cost or the corruption?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, at the start of the COVID-19 crisis in 2020, Canada's economy was faced with $1 billion in costs. Hundreds of people were dying every week in hospitals and long-term care facilities. We had to act quickly.

That being said, the lack of cohesion, quality and data collection and sharing by the CBSA was unacceptable, as the Auditor General demonstrated this morning.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General's report on the ArriveCAN app is damning. The app cost $60 million, with nearly $20 million of that, or one-third, being pocketed by GC Strategies, which did no work at all. The government turned a blind eye, and contractors clearly profited, with support from civil servants. Do not forget that the value of the original contract was $80,000. This scandal has cost $60 million.

How is it possible that costs ballooned by 750% and yet no ministers caught on?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, there were 150,000 travellers a day who needed to cross the border into the United States and back into Canada, bringing in medicines, food and essential protective equipment, among other things. We had to quickly find an app to enable all these people to do their job. That said, it was unacceptable that the CBSA did not implement appropriate mechanisms to support the rules already in place for managing the collection and sharing of information.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General found that the bidding process for ArriveCAN was not competitive. However, she could not say who at the Canada Border Services Agency decided to award the contract to GC Strategies. There is no way of knowing who is responsible for awarding this two-person company a contract worth nearly $20 million to not provide a service.

Who made that decision? Why has the government not reprimanded that individual? Where is the accountability for ArriveCAN?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, accountability is extremely important to us as a government. That is precisely why we took all the necessary steps as soon as we became aware of allegations of inappropriate contracting practices. We conducted an internal audit, which is still in progress. We referred matters to the appropriate authorities when necessary.

We have obviously read the report released by the Auditor General today, and we will be implementing all the measures she suggests.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Mr. Speaker, ArriveCAN cost $60 million, but even that is not all that clear.

This is what the Auditor General said: “The Canada Border Services Agency’s documentation, financial records, and controls were so poor that we were unable to determine the precise cost”. She does know that 18% of invoices submitted by contractors did not provide any details. In short, we do not know who did what. She also knows that four of the five resources tasked with security assessments were unable to prove that some actual work was done.

How is it possible that no one in the government sounded the alarm before this became public?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, I thank our colleague for pointing out how important it is for the public service to manage its information gathering work properly, including during times of crisis, much like the COVID‑19 pandemic we went through. Yes, it is true that billions of dollars in economic activity were lost every week and that hundreds of people lost their lives because of COVID‑19, but that is no excuse for the information the Auditor General reported this morning.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the two insiders at GC Strategies worked with the NDP-Liberal government to set the requirements of the arrive scam contracts, which GC Strategies then got.

In other words, the process was rigged. The government massively overpaid for the $60-million glitchy app, because the process was rigged. It was rigged so that GC Strategies got $20 million from taxpayers and did no actual work.

After eight years, it is clear the Prime Minister's arrive scam app is not worth the cost or the corruption. Why did the Prime Minister rig the process to pay insiders and punish taxpayers?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, again, my colleague can repeat a series of things that the facts do not bear out, but what we can say is that the government takes extremely seriously the obligation of public servants to follow the contracting rules. That is exactly what the president of the Canada Border Services Agency has assured me she is doing. She has also assured me that she had taken a series of corrective measures before today's Auditor General report and will continue to do whatever is required to ensure that taxpayers' money is always handled in the appropriate way.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, everything I said is directly in the Auditor General's report, so the minister cannot claim he is listening to that report yet deny what I said.

Well-connected insiders averaged $1,100 per day for working on this contract. After eight years, the Prime Minister is not worth the cost, the crime or the corruption. The Prime Minister's arrive scam process was clearly rigged, and now Canadians are out tens of millions of dollars when they can least afford it.

Why did the Prime Minister rig the process to pay insiders and punish taxpayers?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, again, when the Border Services Agency was made aware of allegations around inappropriate contracting practices, the appropriate authorities were called in and an internal audit was ordered, an audit that, by the way, is still in progress.

If people did something that was not appropriate or that met a criminal standard, they will obviously be held to account. The government has been very clear: All of the processes to respect taxpayer money are essential, and that is exactly what we are going to put into place.

[Jake Stewart, Conservative, Miramichi—Grand Lake, NB]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years, the current NDP-Liberal government is not worth the cost or the corruption. The Prime Minister's arrive scam app is not worth the cost or the corruption. Today the Auditor General revealed that well-connected insiders and consultants were making $1,100 per day, almost twice the inflated government rate. The Auditor General also found it disturbing that an app that should have cost $80,000 cost $60 million that we know of.

Why did the Prime Minister rig the process to pay insiders and punish taxpayers?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, again, we thank the Auditor General for her important report, which we are grateful to have seen this morning. However, we have followed many of the recommendations that we find in that report, including improving evaluation requirements and work experience data, increasing record keeping on subcontracting work, and suspending authorities temporarily for task authorization until we are confident that better procedures are not only put into place but also better monitored.

Foreign Affairs

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Mr. Speaker, unbelievably the Liberal government has authorized $28.5 million of new military exports to Israel since October 2023. Today, a Dutch court ruled that the Netherlands must stop sending F-35s to Israel. Spain and Belgium have suspended arms sales, but Canada continues to send arms, doing nothing to ensure that they are not being used against civilians. So many children are being killed as Netanyahu bombs Rafah, the place where Palestinians were told they would be safe.

How can the minister continue to sell arms to Israel?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, it is important to make sure we understand what we are talking about here. There is a wide range of items that require an export permit. When we look at the permits to Israel in particular, let me be clear: I have not received and therefore have not approved any export permits for weapons to Israel since October 7, 2023, and any permits issued since October 7 were essentially non-lethal equipment permits.

Canada has a very robust export control system. We abide by the UN Arms Trade Treaty and we take this responsibility very seriously.

Public Safety

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Mr. Speaker, online bullying and harmful content are costing children their lives. In December, a 12-year-old boy in B.C. died by suicide after experiencing online sextortion. Sadly, this is becoming more and more common, and the current government has done nothing. Liberals promised to protect our kids from online harm within 100 days of the last election. While the Liberals do nothing, kids' lives are at risk.

When will the Liberals start protecting children by acting on online harms?

[Arif Virani, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, the targeting of children in this country is extremely troubling. It is depraved, and, frankly, as a parent I find it disgusting.

What the member opposite is highlighting is a problem that absolutely requires a remedy. What we are proposing is comprehensive legislation that will do everything necessary to keep Canadian children safe from those people who would prey upon them in online spaces and from those who would keep them away from their parents and the protection they need. That is the type of protection we will legislate, and we will do it forthwith.

Foreign Affairs

[George Chahal, Liberal, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the war in Gaza has been devastating for so many innocent Palestinians. Gaza is one of the worst places in the world to be. While we were the first western government to actively provide life-saving aid, the silence from the party opposite has been deafening.

Can the Minister of International Development please tell us how important it is that we all come together and support efforts to get aid to the desperate civilians who have been devastated by the war?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, Minister of International Development]

Mr. Speaker, the war in Gaza has been devastating to so many innocent civilians. That is why the Canadian government has provided more than $100 million in humanitarian aid, making us one of the top donors in the world.

I was recently disappointed to hear comments made by the Conservative candidate for York Centre saying that any and all aid to Palestinian civilians will somehow fund terrorism, even through the Red Cross. While the Conservatives are indifferent to Palestinian civilian suffering, we will remain steadfast in supporting humanitarian support to Palestinian civilians.

[An hon. member]

Oh, oh!