Senator Plett: How many people would be able to get away from the food banks if we hadn’t spent $670,000 on KPMG, $54 million on the “ArriveScam” app, $100 million on Liberal insiders at McKinsey, $256 million to Beijing’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and $35 billion for the failed Canada Infrastructure Bank, leader? It’s not worth the cost. How can the Trudeau government justify this waste with a record number of Canadians going hungry?

Senator Plett: The Prime Minister is not worth the cost. He has no common sense. He thinks he can outsource leadership. One thing he’s good at, though, is taking care of his friends. In 2016, Liberal MPs voted to shut down a committee study into a tax-evasion scheme involving KPMG. At around the same time, a KPMG executive was named Treasurer for the Liberal Party. What a coincidence. Leader, why is it always Liberal insiders who get ahead under this government, while Canadians struggle to get by?

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Government leader, the Trudeau government told Canadians that it would somehow find $15 billion in savings this year, despite not once following through on their other promises to find savings. In fact, the Trudeau government did just what Canadians have come to expect from them. They spent even more money, and they spent it on consultants.

KPMG was given a contract worth just under $670,000 to tell the Trudeau government how to spend less money — hear this — on consultants. Unbelievable. This would be a joke if it didn’t involve so many hard-earned taxpayers’ dollars.

Leader, I know you don’t like to hear it, but every day Prime Minister Trudeau shows Canadians that he’s not worth the cost. How does your government possibly justify this waste?

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Senator Gold, in March, almost 2 million Canadians used a food bank to feed themselves and their families. This number has increased by almost a third in one year, and it’s increased 79% compared to just four years ago.

These aren’t just stats, Senator Gold; they are Canadians. They are young people with jobs. They are seniors on a fixed income who can’t afford home heating. They are families with children. In fact, one third of all food bank users are now children. After eight long years of the Trudeau government, this is where we are as a country, with record food bank usage. How many more Canadians will go hungry if the Prime Minister gets his way and quadruples his carbon tax?