44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 15, 2024 10:00AM
- Feb/15/24 2:30:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I think the housing crisis calls for a co-operative approach. What is the Leader of the Opposition's approach? He insults the mayors of Quebec City, Montreal and throughout Canada.
That is not how to engage in a serious housing policy. The accelerator fund that he points to is incenting change at the zoning level municipally. That is critical if we are going to see more supply. It is absolutely vital that we see more supply because that is what underpins the housing crisis in front of us. He is not serious.
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- Feb/15/24 2:31:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, they are working together with municipal politicians to block housing. In fact, the housing minister, when he was immigration minister, was warned his policies would lead to a massive shortage, yet he went ahead with them anyway. He made some incredible admissions yesterday at finance committee. He said, first, that his $4-billion accelerator fund has not completed any homes, and second, “It doesn't actually lead to the construction of specific homes.”
Why does he not instead follow my common-sense plan to link municipal funding to housing construction so we can build homes and not bureaucracy?
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- Feb/15/24 2:32:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is shame; he should follow the proceedings of the finance committee more closely because just a few months ago, officials there testified that his private member's bill, supposedly meant to build more housing, would do exactly the opposite.
He wants to tax home builders. He wants to cut infrastructure that communities require for housing purposes. His best idea, it would seem, to build more homes is to create some sort of 1-800 number where neighbours can rat on each other if they have concerns around NIMBY. It is not a serious approach. He has never been serious about housing. He is playing games.
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- Feb/15/24 2:32:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is not worth the cost or the corruption, and his arrive scam app is just like the Liberal government: costly and corrupt.
Look at the facts: two buddies, a basement office and an IT company that does no IT work yet got a $20-million contract for IT. Now the Auditor General tells us that she cannot track all the costs, saying, “We didn't find records to accurately show how much was spent on what, who did the work, or how and why...decisions were made.”
Will the Prime Minister order his officials to turn over all the documents, stop blocking this investigation and call for a full RCMP investigation?
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- Feb/15/24 2:33:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it may surprise my hon. friend, but the government does not actually direct the national police in terms of investigations. We have confidence that the RCMP will take the important responsibility it has seriously and do all of the work that is required. We have complete faith in the RCMP's independence and in its ability to look into all these matters.
More importantly, the government is also always available to work with parliamentary committees and the Auditor General's Office to ensure that every document is available so this important matter can be resolved.
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- Feb/15/24 2:34:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals voted against calling in the Auditor General in the first place and blocked multiple attempts at committees to get to the truth. While the rest of the country viewed the pandemic as a difficult time full of hardship, the Liberals saw it as an opportunity to enrich their friends. They got caught funnelling a billion dollars to the WE organization. A former Liberal MP got a sole-source contract worth millions from the pandemic. Now we find out that the Liberals' app cost 750 times what it should have, did not work and was not needed.
The Auditor General says the RCMP is going to have to get a court order to get the documents. Why should it take a warrant for Canadians to find out what the Liberals did with their money?
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- Feb/15/24 2:34:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it does not take a warrant for Canadians to see that the government has been transparent, both with the Auditor General and with parliamentary committees.
The facts may bother my friend, but he knows very well that the Auditor General is empowered to do all of this important work. We have accepted the report of the Auditor General. We acted on a number of recommendations before receiving the report because we asked the procurement ombudsperson to look into this matter. We value the importance of respecting taxpayers' money and will always do that.
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- Feb/15/24 2:35:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, where was the minister on November 1, 2022? Here in the House, there was a vote on a request by the official opposition and the member for Carleton, the Conservative leader, for the Auditor General to analyze the arrive scam situation. What did the Liberals do? What did the minister do? They voted against that request.
Today, we are asking for access to all the documents. Will the minister once again hide under a rug and vote against this, or will he, for once, step up with the dignity we expect from this government and allow the whole truth about the arrive scam scandal to come out?
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- Feb/15/24 2:36:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague stressed the importance of the Auditor General's work, and rightly so.
The good news is that she tabled a report on Monday with some troubling findings and solid recommendations that we are now implementing or continuing to implement.
The member says she is hiding under a rug. That is not true. The Auditor General is in contact with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and all the other organizations, including internal ones, that will need the information she was able to gather.
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- Feb/15/24 2:36:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the good news is that the Auditor General did her job.
The bad news is that the government did not want her to do her job. Let us imagine what would have happened otherwise. People would just shrug off the fact that ArriveCAN turned out to be a washout, but it would be no big deal. In fact, ArriveCAN is the biggest scandal in Canadian history. That is the reality.
The original $80,000 contract ultimately ballooned to at least $60 million. Today, the Liberals are feigning outrage and saying we need to launch an investigation. Where were the Liberals on November 1, 2022, when it should have been investigated?
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- Feb/15/24 2:37:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, not only did the Auditor General do her job, she did a very good job. We appreciate the work she did and will draw from it. It will help us continue implementing the measures we need, even in times of crisis when situations are extremely complicated for everyone, including Canadians, and when quick action is essential.
In these times of crisis, like all other times of crisis, the basic rules of sound management of the public service still hold.
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- Feb/15/24 2:37:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Quebec's French language commissioner released a report that may shock the immigration minister, but does not surprise anyone in Quebec.
Temporary immigration is setting French back in Quebec. According to the commissioner, it would cost between $10.5 billion and $13 billion to teach French to all newcomers. Needless to say, that is unsustainable.
One of the commissioner's recommendations targets the federal government directly. Will the minister finally ensure that every province welcomes asylum seekers instead of contributing to the decline of French?
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- Feb/15/24 2:38:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to point out that we are already transferring $5.2 billion to the Quebec government, partly for French-language instruction.
I hope the member opposite is not saying that he wants to deport people who do not speak French in Canada. That would be an illegal, immoral and inhumane thing to do.
We are well aware that more work needs to be done to share the burden that is falling on Quebec. We will continue to do so with the province of Quebec.
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- Feb/15/24 2:38:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, these answers are no longer credible, but that is okay. I will continue.
Quebec's French language commissioner goes further. He proposes that the federal government ensure that asylum seekers are spread out among the provinces, taking language into account. Ottawa could encourage people who have knowledge of French to stay in Quebec or, as the Bloc Québécois proposes, go to franco-Canadian communities. As far as anglophones are concerned, Ottawa could encourage them to go to an anglophone province. That would make it easier for them to access the labour market and it would reduce the cost of linguistic integration.
Does the minister not think this is an excellent idea?
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- Feb/15/24 2:39:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, obviously all of our initiatives to send asylum seekers to other provinces need to be done humanely and consensually.
The language criterion is one of many, but should not be the main criterion. We all need to make an extra effort. The federal government has a role to play; Ontario, Quebec and all the provinces do as well.
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- Feb/15/24 2:40:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, perhaps French is in decline at the federal level because never before have the Liberals appointed so few francophones to decision-making positions.
Francophones were appointed to only 21% of the key departmental positions that are supposed to be bilingual. That is the worst record since 2015. When Liberal ministers make political appointments, they appoint only unilingual anglophones. No wonder French is disappearing at the federal level.
Will the Liberal ministers stop setting the example that it is okay to undermine French?
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- Feb/15/24 2:40:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, defending and promoting French is a priority for all Liberal members from both inside and outside Quebec. When making appointments, we did a lot to ensure greater representation of women, under-represented communities and indigenous people, and we did even more to ensure French representation. We will do more to appoint francophones because that is important to us.
While the Bloc Québécois is pouting, complaining and picking fights, we are doing what we need to do, and that is appointing more francophones.
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- Feb/15/24 2:41:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister stated that his arrive scam app would cost taxpayers $80,000, but in fact it is 750 times more, over $60 million and climbing.
Now, the committee studying this scam has heard evidence of forgery, fraud, obstruction of justice and breach of trust by government officials. The arrive scam is just like the Prime Minister, not worth the cost, not worth the corruption.
Will the Prime Minister finally stop the cover-up and join us to call on the RCMP to expand the investigation?
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- Feb/15/24 2:41:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the member is correct to point to the important work of parliamentary committees, which are called to do valuable work to support that of the government in making sure that even in times of crisis, like the pandemic, proper rules are followed, known and monitored by all public servants, including those at the CBSA.
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- Feb/15/24 2:42:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what a completely insincere answer. It is a fraud on Canadians.
Since the Prime Minister took office, over $250 million has been given to GC Strategies, two guys working in their basement, $20 million alone for the arrive scam. Criminality is rampant with evidence the committee has recently heard.
The arrive scam is just like the Prime Minister, not worth the cost, not worth the corruption. Fleeced taxpayers want an honest answer.
Will the Prime Minister finally call on the RCMP to expand the investigation? Yes or no.
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