SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 286 - Feb/27/24

Mr. Francis Scarpaleggia (Lac-Saint-Louis, Lib.)

Feb/27/24 11:14:10 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am disappointed that unanimous consent was not given to table these very important documents, which are very revealing of how the previous government managed things. I am also shocked by the obvious cozy relationship that existed between the previous Conservative government and this firm, and the very lax contracting policies that left us documents with words such as “work unspecified”. Does the member not feel that perhaps this cozy relationship and these lax practices might have emboldened GC Strategies going forward?

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Context: House Hansard - 286 - Feb/27/24

Ms. Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné

Feb/27/24 11:44:28 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for throwing me such a softball, so to speak, since it is really quite simple. The two people who founded GC Strategies had already founded a company called Coredal Systems Consulting. That company has had contracts with the Canadian government since 2007, so under the Conservatives. In 2015, they dissolved Coredal and transitioned that company into GC Strategies. That information is very easy to find on the open government website. It was a typical name change that just happened to coincide with a change in government.

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Context: House Hansard - 286 - Feb/27/24

Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Feb/27/24 11:57:09 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, for me there are a couple of issues, and I will very quickly break it down. There is the procurement process, but there is also, from my perspective and what I think my constituents would be saying to me, the question of how one company gets into a position in which it could do what GC Strategies actually was able to do. Part of it is that we have to look at the origins of the company, which had actually been around for many years; it was under a new name, of course, as it had been under Coredal. I wonder whether the member could provide his thoughts on that aspect. To what degree should we be looking at how a company could surface and get into a situation like we find ourselves in today?

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Context: House Hansard - 286 - Feb/27/24

Mr. Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay (Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, BQ)

Feb/27/24 12:01:20 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I think we all agree, at least within the opposition parties, that this is a real mess. As we have said, we will unequivocally support the Conservative motion. That said, I would like to ask my colleague if he would agree that the Conservative leader has been rather quiet about the fact that, while he was parliamentary secretary to the transportation minister, his department awarded $6.5 million to the owners of GC Strategies.

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Context: House Hansard - 286 - Feb/27/24

Mr. Warren Steinley (Regina—Lewvan, CPC)

Feb/27/24 12:12:28 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we do keep records of who voted for what during budget deliberations, so I would ask this member how he can go back to his riding, when he voted eight times to ensure that GC Strategies got tens of millions of dollars. He talks about the corporate parties. He literally is propping up the Liberal government to ensure the ad scam continues. GC Strategies is still getting money because of his vote. It is actually quite embarrassing.

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Context: House Hansard - 286 - Feb/27/24

Mrs. Stephanie Kusie

Feb/27/24 1:48:54 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, this would be impossible. What year was GC Strategies incorporated? It was incorporated in 2015. Canadians need only to look at the $23.6-billion deficit. Contracting is up 60% with this government in the last eight or nine years. I refuse to accept the Liberals' attempt to, once again, cover up their use of such a company. Again, the facts speak for themselves. This company was not even incorporated until 2015, when—

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Context: House Hansard - 286 - Feb/27/24

Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Feb/27/24 4:21:54 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the word that comes to mind is “wow”. That is quite the extreme statement coming from the member. So much for facts. I hope he does not believe 90% of the things he said. The question that comes to mind is this. I wonder whether he would hold the very same standard to his own leader, who was responsible for the issuing of millions of dollars in contracts to Coredal Systems Consulting Inc., the very same people who are with GC Strategies. Would he apply the same principles to the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada that he is applying to others? Maybe he should skip the character assassinations and focus on the issue. If he is not going to answer that question, maybe he could offer an idea from Conservatives as to how we can improve the procurement process.

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Context: House Hansard - 286 - Feb/27/24

Ms. Rachel Blaney (North Island—Powell River, NDP)

Feb/27/24 4:25:38 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we do know that when the Conservatives were in power, they gave over $7 million to GC Strategies under its former name. We know that $4 million of those contracts was awarded when the Leader of the Opposition was the parliamentary secretary, and of course we know that the Phoenix scandal, which the Auditor General has compared to ArriveCAN, has the same sort of scandal behind it. Phoenix, of course, was done under the Conservatives' government. I have a question for the member, though. I appreciate the discussion today and have no problem going after GC Strategies, but I am interested to hear whether the member thinks we should also be looking at McKinsey & Company, Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Accenture, KPMG and Ernst and Young, which are also getting millions and millions of taxpayer dollars. I am just wondering.

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Context: House Hansard - 286 - Feb/27/24

Mr. Garnett Genuis

Feb/27/24 5:25:52 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is sad to see the desperation of the parliamentary secretary across the way. Here are the facts: GC Strategies was incorporated immediately after the Prime Minister took office. The Prime Minister came into office eight years ago, promising sunny ways. Do members remember that? It sure was sunny for GC Strategies. GC Strategies was incorporated as soon as the Prime Minister took office, and it did a quarter of a billion dollars' worth of business with the Liberal government. Even in the eyes of the Liberal government, it is actually real money we are talking about. A quarter of a billion dollars went to this two-person company. All it did was receive contracts, go on LinkedIn to find someone else to do the job, and—

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