Senator Plett: The Chaplain General also reportedly said that “. . . a committee will be formed to review the new directive . . . .” The Trudeau government wouldn’t be forced to backtrack and promise a committee review if they did nothing wrong, would they? They clearly have no moral compass.

Leader, will you offer an apology for your response to Senator MacDonald on October 19, when you accused him of misleading in this chamber? Also, who gets to sit on this committee and who will appoint them?

Senator Batters: Justin Trudeau’s Minister of Rural Economic Development said that if the Prairies also want the carbon tax carve-out, they should elect more Liberals. Thanks, but no. This sure does not say much for Ralph Goodale’s years at the Trudeau cabinet table when the carbon tax was created. Regional discrimination is no way to run a country. When will this Trudeau government cut the hot air and axe this unfair tax on home heating for all Canadians?

Hon. Leo Housakos: Senator Gold, we know that Justin Trudeau is not worth the cost but we also see that he has a hard time with transparency and accountability.

On Tuesday, the Canada Border Services Agency, or CBSA, announced the suspension of contracts with three companies caught up in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or RCMP, investigation of “ArriveScam.” First, why only the CBSA? These companies have several contracts with many Trudeau departments at all levels of government. Second, why was it only done now? Why not when the RCMP investigation began? Why not when the whistle-blowers, more than two years ago, brought this information to public light?

Last week, when Minister Blair was before this committee, he promised to get back to us in regards to Dalian contracts in his very own department. Why does it take days and weeks to get simple information from this government? Are you able to provide this chamber information in regard to whether the Department of National Defence, or DND, and Minister Blair’s suspending of its contracts with Dalian, CORDEX and GC Strategies will occur? It’s a simple yes or no. When will we cancel the contracts with these companies?

Hon. Denise Batters: Senator Gold, the Trudeau government has repeatedly claimed that their punishing carbon tax scheme aims to encourage Canadians to use more efficient sources of energy. We in Saskatchewan have been doing that for decades. In the early 1980s, Progressive Conservative premier Grant Devine changed our province’s heat source from heating oil to natural gas at a then cost of about $150 million — a huge investment for our small province. Now only about 0.3% of Saskatchewan homes still heat with oil. That is roughly equivalent to the number of Liberals we elect — net zero.

The Trudeau government’s supposedly national carbon tax carve-out applies only to homes heated with oil, which creates much more pollution than natural gas. Why is your government discriminating against the Saskatchewan people when we implemented cleaner energy 40 years ago?

Hon. Leo Housakos: Senator Gold, Canada is providing financial aid to Gaza through a series of what the Trudeau government calls “trusted partners.” These are the same partners who operated in Gaza for years when Canadian aid ended up in the pockets of Hamas operatives. They include World Vision, whose manager of Gaza operations was convicted of funnelling millions of dollars of aid money and resources to Hamas. Yet here we are again sending Canadian financial aid — taxpayers’ money — to World Vision and other organizations.

My question is this: What measures have been put into place by this government to make sure that when Canadians’ hard-earned taxpayer money is sent to provide aid in Gaza or other areas of the world, that money doesn’t end up in the pockets of terrorist organizations like Hamas?

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Leader, the Trudeau government recently tried to hide why it wrote off hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars, and who received the money. They finally admitted this loss relates to an unfulfilled contract with a Quebec company for COVID vaccines.

While that’s pretty bad, it is not the only example of this government hiding information about a massive loss of money. In the 2018-19 fiscal year, Export Development Canada wrote off $196 million, and the only thing that Global Affairs Canada said was that it was doing so in the best interests of Canada.

Leader, once again, the Prime Minister is not worth the cost. If your government can provide basic information on one loss, why can’t they provide it on another?