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?

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your question. The government is managing the economy in a prudent and responsible way. Indeed, without having the figures at hand, I do believe the evidence shows that, in fact, government spending is down. I would not assume that the use of outside experts to advise the government is necessarily a waste. I have every expectation that the government will continue to find ways in which to reduce spending and to use its own resources and outside resources in the most responsible way possible.