Public Accounts committee  I want to reiterate the words of one of my colleagues earlier about the importance of the Government of Canada being able to contract for the kind of expertise that your firm represents, as was done under the former Harper government. In the words of the late Jim Flaherty, for whom I had great respect, private sector advice is critical to helping the government conduct its work. In that case, it was a $90,000-a-day contract to cut public sector workers, which in hindsight, I think we need to review.

Public Accounts committee  I know that when the Conservatives were in power they were paying Deloitte $90,000 a day to teach them how to cut costs. There was a quote from the late Jim Flaherty, who was the finance minister. He said, “Private sector advice is valuable, it’s important, it’s essential.” Can I perhaps get your viewpoints on how the private sector does lend a hand, especially in instances like the pandemic that we were facing?

Industry committee  You were on the North American Competitiveness Council for Prime Minister Harper. You also served for—God bless him and rest his soul—former finance minister Jim Flaherty as an economic adviser during the economic crisis in 2008-09. Is that not correct?

Industry committee  I would note for the record that Annette Verschuren was appointed by Brian Mulroney, Stephen Harper, and at least three times by Jim Flaherty, my predecessor, for different positions. With the claim that this is a Green-Liberal slush fund, as Mr. Barrett has claimed in the House of Commons multiple times, this starts to look like it's very much fishing for some goods on the government.

Transport committee  You mentioned at the outset, Mr. Barton, that you also provided advice to then minister Jim Flaherty and previous prime minister Stephen Harper. Minister Flaherty was the finance minister between 2006 and 2014. I note that McKinsey was awarded contracts during that time. Were you ever questioned by Minister Flaherty or his staff about conflicts before McKinsey was ever awarded contracts while you were also advising Minister Flaherty and Prime Minister Harper?

Transport committee  Barton, given your extensive work with governments—Conservative governments, as you identified, in 2010 with former finance minister Jim Flaherty, and once again in 2013 with former prime minister Harper on the Canadian advisory committee on the public service—you have had a lot of experience over the years with federal infrastructure and abroad.

Public Services and Procurement  If we really want to look into the mischievous mind that the Conservatives on the other side have, we should look at Jim Flaherty, as I pointed out at the beginning. I would be interested in hearing the member's comments on Jim Flaherty and maybe how Jim Flaherty might have had some influence with someone like Dominic Barton.

Committees of the House  The previous Conservative member who just spoke gave me an answer that Dominic had a relationship with Jim Flaherty. Who was Jim Flaherty? He was the minister of finance under Stephen Harper. I thought this was all about Liberal friends. Mr. Flaherty was not a Liberal.

Committees of the House  For the Conservatives, the issue is more about character assassination than it is about how much money has gone out. After all, they had given contracts to the very same company. The relationship with Jim Flaherty was a whole lot stronger than what it was with this government.

Government Operations committee  It says: The Harper government defended paying almost $90,000 a day to a big consulting firm for advice on how to save money, saying it can't do the job properly by itself. “The fact is that we feel we need to have outside advice,” Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Tuesday. “It isn't good, quite frankly, for a government to just look at itself. There's a lot of expertise in Canada on the subject of public-sector productivity, for example, and we [need to] look forward to having the advice of, in this case, Deloitte's.”

Information & Ethics committee  That's the truth. Jim Flaherty was working on financial literacy. Do you know that I still receive emails from certain members sent from their Assistant 1 accounts? I made a donation to the party, but I receive emails from constituency offices.

Information & Ethics committee  I'll tell you something, Mr. Barrett. Ten years ago, I donated $50 to the Conservative Party. That was in Jim Flaherty's day.

Business of Supply  I would like the member opposite to answer a very serious question. When the Conservatives decided to go after income trusts in their first mandate, and Jim Flaherty undermined the Conservative commitment to not trust income trusts, the one thing he did not touch was the real estate income trusts, or REITs. Why did the Conservatives pour jet fuel on the fire and allow the REITs to become the dominant player in the investment side of the real estate industry?

Housing  The unregulated housing market has created a speculative bonanza that is driving first-time homebuyers out of the dream of owning a home. It is Conservative policy that got us here, and the worst policy was when Jim Flaherty double-crossed the Prime Minister, double-crossed his caucus and cancelled all the income trust. The one he did not do was the real estate income trust sector, and that has galloped into the housing market and has driven inflation so that housing is beyond the reach of most Canadians.

Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1  We have world-class wines. We know that the excise exemption that was created under the late Jim Flaherty in 2007 when he was the finance minister has been important to the success of our 100% Canadian wine industry. I am very pleased to see our government has committed $101 million over the next two years to help support the industry.