Madam Speaker, at the beginning of the current Parliament, I stood in this place to call upon the government to give an answer to Canadians as to why they pay so much and get so little from the Liberal government.
Liberals gave away millions of dollars to GC Strategies, while federal departments could not prove whether there was any work done before authorizing payments. After investigating all of this, the Liberals have yet to get even a penny back from GC Strategies for stealing money from taxpayers, all while they increased their spending plans. The Liberals have spent millions of dollars trying to transform office space into housing, with little success.
In an audit conducted by the Auditor General, there were concerns with the government's seeming to determine success by commitments rather than achieved outcomes. The government has spent more than $1 billion on its promise to our allies that we would equip our pilots with a fleet capable of performing in combat, with the Auditor General noting that the increase in cost by 50%, from $19 billion to $27.7 billion, does not include at least another $5.5 billion needed to finish equipping the fighters to be ready for operations. She also reported in her audit that after years of waiting for the contract to procure, the government approved construction on military bases without critical information, which has led to greater delays and cost overruns.
Canadian families know all too well the cost of Liberal inflationary spending. They know it because they pay for it at the grocery store, where prices have gone up 50% faster than in the United States. They know it because far too many people have been priced out of the housing market and are unable to pay their mortgage or afford rent. They see it in every news story that breaks about mismanaged money given to Liberal insiders and high-priced consultants.
There is one taxpayer, and it is hard-working Canadians who are left to pay for all the government's failures. Canadians have kept up their end of the deal. There have been millions of taxpayer dollars given out to GC Strategies with little to no proof that work was done, millions of dollars spent on transforming office space with few results, and billions of dollars over budget to procure a fleet to arm our military with the tools it needs to keep Canadians safe.
I will reiterate my question from June: Why do Canadians who pay so much receive so little from the Liberal government?