Senator Housakos: The only assurance that this chamber and taxpayers have is that the RCMP is looking into it. Hopefully, they’ll get to the bottom of which pockets got lined.

Senator Gold, given the latest news regarding it, will your government finally do the right thing and cancel the outstanding fines that were issued as a result of this deeply flawed and — as we now know — fraudulent app? Will you apologize to Canadians who were unlawfully ordered into quarantine despite having done nothing wrong — Canadians such as Joe Walsh and thousands of others who have been fined?

Senator Housakos: Senator Gold, I am pleading with this government. Canadians are having a hard time heating their homes and putting food on the table for their children. They’re having a hard time getting from their homes to work, very often costing them more to get there than what the work actually pays.

When will this government lift its boot off the throat of working-class Canadians and allow them to breathe during these terribly difficult times which your government has created and contributed to in creating this inflation?

Hon. Leo Housakos: My question is for the government leader in the Senate.

Senator Gold, yesterday we learned that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is investigating the outsourcing of a Canada Border Services Agency contract involving the same companies at the centre of the $54 million ArriveCAN boondoggle. This is the same boondoggle that saw Canadians, who were exercising their right to return home, slapped with fines as high as $8,500. Then they were threatened with more fines if they were caught breaking the quarantine — as high as $750,000.

It was bad enough when we thought these fees were being levied to pay for your government’s complete failure in awarding this outrageous contract in the first place, but now it’s looking less like a failure and more like a deliberate get-rich-quick scheme for those with connections to the Trudeau government.

Senator Gold, what assurances can you give me and Canadians that Canadians weren’t unlawfully detained just so your government’s friends could line their pockets with taxpayers’ cash?

Hon. Leo Housakos: My question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate.

There are three things that are very important in Canadians’ everyday lives: mortgages, groceries and gas. Clearly, all three are essential to their survival.

Over the past year, and especially over the past few months, the Trudeau government’s lack of leadership has resulted in mortgage payments jumping by 30% to 40%, groceries going up by 50% on average, and gas prices skyrocketing.

Justin Trudeau’s team is raising taxes on gas and groceries, and that is making everything more expensive. Senator Gold, will your government axe the carbon tax once and for all and give Canadians some breathing room?