Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to finally be able to rise and be a part of the discussion here this evening. I am looking forward to bringing it home for the evening. I rise tonight to follow up on a previous question posed about the carbon tax impacting first nations.
Before I get to that, I just want to talk about the current state of Indigenous Services Canada as a whole. The government is spending a lot of money. It likes to talk about how much it has increased spending, but what we have seen in recent reports is that when it comes to Indigenous Services Canada, this increase in spending has not led to a similar equivalent increase in the ability of the department to achieve its targets. Despite the money going out the door, it is not actually getting to where it needs to go. The government is funding high-priced consultants and bloating the bureaucracy, but it is not getting to the first nations or the indigenous communities that rely on this critical funding. That is why, unfortunately, 10 drinking water advisories remain in the Kenora district out of 28 overall on first nations across the country.
This is especially of concern to me, because I recently found out through a written Order Paper question to the government that 94% of Indigenous Services Canada employees at the executive level received bonuses last year. That represents a cost of over $3.6 million to the department. Again, this is a department that is not achieving the targets that it set for itself, yet the government has seen fit to give big bonuses to executive-level staff. I know the 42 chiefs of first nations in my district could have found much a better use for that $3.6 million. I believe that just shows how out of touch the government is.
I said that to set the groundwork, because, with all of that happening with the current government, it is also driving up the cost of living for first nations with the carbon tax. We know that this is a tax on everything. It impacts all of the goods that people need to buy. In fact, Chiefs of Ontario, which represents 133 first nations, nearly a third of which are in the Kenora district, is taking the government to court. They are actually arguing that the carbon tax leaves them worse off and breaches the principles of reconciliation. Once again, they are arguing that the carbon tax breaches the principles of reconciliation, a very serious claim and, I think, one that up until now the government has completely disregarded, as it did in my previous question.
I would just like to ask once again when the government will finally show some common sense and axe this tax for good for first nations, farmers and families right across the country.