Debates of Feb. 12th, 2024

Foreign Affairs

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

The hon. member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan is an experienced member and understands that only the person who has the floor should be talking.

The hon. member for Brantford—Brant.

Public Services and Procurement

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have one word for the government: jaw-dropping.

Today the Auditor General revealed that the Prime Minister paid almost $20 million to GC Strategies for his arrive scam. The two-person consulting company working out of a basement performed no actual IT work on the app. The amount is double what the government previously reported.

Will the Prime Minister admit that he rigged the system to pay well-connected Liberal insiders while fleecing taxpayers?

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

Mr. Speaker, in a time of crisis, a responsible government has two responsibilities; the first is to protect the health and safety of its citizens, and the second is to ensure the efficiency of its internal systems.

What we know from COVID-19 is that $1 billion in economic costs to Canadians was incurred every day. What we also know is that hundreds of people were dying every week. However, at the same time, this is no excuse for the type of recommendation and finding that the Auditor General deposited today, and that is why we are going to continue to—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

The hon. member for Brantford—Brant.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is outlined by the Auditor General that pandemic urgency can never justify the corruption and oversight failures outlined in the report. The awarding of contracts favoured GC Strategies' securing almost $20 million without competition. The CBSA's disregard for basic management practices compromised accountability, competition and value for money. The Prime Minister is not worth the cost, crime or corruption.

Will fleeced Canadian taxpayers get their money back?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, I agree with my colleague that a global pandemic and the rush to put in place a series of measures to protect the health and safety of Canadians does not exclude public servants from following the appropriate contracting rules that are in place.

We agree with the Auditor General when she says that the rules were not followed in a way that was acceptable. As we have said, we are putting in place and already have put in place a series of measures to ensure that the circumstance is never repeated.

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

Mr. Speaker, today we have seen the Auditor General's disastrous report on the ArriveCAN app, which confirmed an outrageous lack of oversight and transparency.

According to his mandate letter, the former president of the Treasury Board was supposed to “raise the bar on openness, effectiveness and transparency in government.” The member for Québec's primary responsibility was to review expenditures related to contracts worth more than $60 million.

Will the minister apologize to Canadians for having failed in his duties?

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for this reminder of what the obligations of a responsible government are. A responsible government makes sure to protect the health and safety of its citizens, including in times of crisis like COVID-19, the worst health crisis since the last century and the worst economic crisis since the 1930s.

We had to act quickly to save hundreds and even thousands of lives and billions of dollars in economic costs. That being said, in spite of all of that, the Auditor General of Canada, in her report and recommendations, describes an unacceptable situation. We need to do better next time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the minister that he was the president of the Treasury Board of Canada. It was his responsibility to ensure that taxpayers' money was properly managed.

I would also like to remind him that, during the pandemic, 23 businesses with no name received hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts. On the Government of Canada website, they were designated by the letters A, B, C, D and so on. I raised that problem in committee in 2021.

Today, we have received confirmation of the “glaring disregard for basic management practices” with the ArriveCAN app.

Will the former president of the Treasury Board admit that he failed in his duty to protect Canadian taxpayers' money?

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

Mr. Speaker, one of the Canadian government's duties at the time was to ensure that our border with the United States remained open to the hundreds of thousands of Canadians who were travelling every week and to the billions of dollars in essential medicines, food and critical equipment needed to protect people's health.

That is why we implemented the ArriveCAN app, to prevent the border with the United States, under President Trump, from being completely closed to the transportation of all medicine, food and equipment that Canadians, in my riding and in that of my Conservative colleague, desperately needed to protect themselves.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, everyone can see that the Liberals have been irresponsible on the immigration file, but they can change. They can start cleaning up the mess today. They can support the Bloc Québécois's motion to consult Quebec in order to review immigration targets based on integration capacity.

They can also send out a clear message right now. They need only write a cheque for $470 million to Quebeckers to reimburse them for taking in asylum seekers since 2021. Will the government finally pay Quebeckers back?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, I am sure the member opposite would agree that immigration is a vital resource for Canada, Quebec and our economy. What the member is proposing is a motion on which Quebec has not even been consulted. Now, out of the blue, he has made himself the spokesperson for the other provinces so that we can consult them again, when this is something we have already done and do every year.

We made responsible decisions. That is what we are going to do with the responsible provincial governments.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Canada's immigration minister is not open to hearing from Quebec's immigration minister. The Liberals do not want to face reality when it comes to immigration. Quebec has exceeded its integration capacity, and that is entirely because of the federal government's inaction on asylum seekers.

Since 2021, our public services and community organizations have been shouldering a completely disproportionate share of the burden when it comes to welcoming asylum seekers. They are doing too much, while the provinces, with the exception of Ontario, are doing too little.

Is the federal government finally going to force provinces to contribute their fair share?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, there are definitely two provinces that are doing more than their fair share: Ontario and Quebec. Quebec has made superhuman efforts with respect to asylum seekers, whether it is those who have crossed at Roxham Road or those who arrive at Trudeau Airport.

We have transferred $5.2 billion to Quebec since 2015. Half of that federal money is going to Quebec for temporary housing. We are going to do more with Quebec. We can do it together, as a beautiful country.

Public Services and Procurement

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Mr. Speaker, earlier today we learned that the Prime Minister's arrive scam app was not worth the cost or the corruption. The Auditor General found a glaring disregard for management practices. The process was rigged from the beginning, which appears to be business as usual. After eight years of the NDP-Liberal government, taxpayers are paying a high price for Liberal insiders, and Canadians want answers.

Will the NDP-Liberal coalition come clean with Canadians or continue the cover-up?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, far from covering up, the government has co-operated with parliamentary inquiries that are looking into the matter. The government proactively sent internal audit reviews to a parliamentary committee, and the Conservative chair decided not to share them with the members.

We have no lessons to take on acting in a transparent manner. We have said from the beginning that any allegations of inappropriate contracting practices need to face the most severe consequences. That is exactly what the government will ensure.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Mr. Speaker, this comes from the minister responsible for clam scam.

After eight years, it has never been clearer that the Prime Minister's arrive scam app is not worth the cost or the corruption. Rules were ignored, and the government overpaid. Canadians are kept in the dark. The system is so corrupt that only the Prime Minister could have thought it up. The rot starts at the top, and the NDP-Liberal government is trying to cover it up.

Will the coalition allow the study of arrive scam to continue or will it shut it down to keep its buddies safe?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague refers to the work of a parliamentary committee. As I said in the previous answer, our government has collaborated at all times with the parliamentary committee.

The president of the Canada Border Services Agency, at my suggestion, sent a copy of the preliminary internal audit to the committee. The Conservative chair decided not to share it with the members, because it might somehow prevent them from asking a series of partisan questions to bureaucrats who were there to appear before the committee.

We have been transparent and will continue to be at all times.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of government incompetence, this is further proof that it is not worth the cost and not worth the corruption.

Inconceivably, the ArriveCAN app was initially supposed to cost $80,000 and the final bill was over $60 million. This means that the cost was 750 times higher than expected.

What happened between $80,000 and $60 million? Bogus invoices were paid using taxpayers' money. Can anyone tell us who paid out all that money?

What we have here is the greatest scandal of them all.

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

Mr. Speaker, it would have been a scandal if the Canadian government had not assumed its responsibility to protect the health and safety of people, including in the riding of Lévis—Lotbinière, where the jobs of hundreds of people depended on efficient and fast transportation at the U.S. border, where $1 billion in trade takes place every day.

Nevertheless, the Auditor General's recommendations from this morning are troubling. We will continue to move forward to implement them in the coming weeks.

The Economy

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Speaker, Canada's economic indicators seem to be saying that we are in a very enviable position compared to the rest of the world. Nevertheless, some Canadians remain worried about the cost of living and affordability in general.

Can the Minister of Industry tell this House about Canada's economic situation and the impact of our position on the country's growth in general?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, that is an excellent question.

Yes, there are concerns, but there are also great economic developments that are very encouraging for Canadians.

Last month, the Canadian economy added 37,000 jobs. Unemployment is going down. Women's participation in the workforce is at an all-time high.

What is more, we are attracting generational investments in the automotive, biomanufacturing and natural resources sectors.

Canada is positioning itself as an economic leader in the 21st century.

Public Services and Procurement

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the NDP-Liberal government, it is clear that the Prime Minister is not worth the cost. What else is not worth the cost? The Prime Minister's $60-million arrive scam app.

What started out as an $80,000 app is now at $60 million, and the Auditor General cannot confirm that it will not go higher. Taxpayers did not get value for the Prime Minister's $60-million arrive scam app, as the Auditor General has stated.

Will the Prime Minister come clean and tell us how much taxpayers are going to be truly fleeced for his arrive scam app?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety]

Mr. Speaker, once again, our government has, at the very first opportunity when these allegations were made, taken all of the appropriate steps to ensure that taxpayer money is respected. The Canada Border Services Agency president ordered an internal investigation. Those preliminary findings were shared with the committee, with which my hon. colleague is very familiar. It is too bad that the chair of that committee chose not to share, for example, that report with the members of the committee.

Our government is being transparent, and will always be, to ensure that taxpayer money is well spent.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it was that minister's department that hid the RCMP investigation from the Auditor General. It was also his party that had those documents on Wednesday. What did those members do? They filibustered and then voted to excuse the witness.

It is very clear that the government at every chance it gets will cover up the ArriveCAN scandal.

I have a quick question. What is the government trying to hide? When will it truly come clean on arrive scam?