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?

Senator Housakos: Senator Woo, there’s something in the Westminster system called parliamentary responsibility and accountability. You cannot say the elected house in our parliamentary system is irrelevant. Nobody will accept that. Your accountability, and mine, and that of everybody in this chamber comes through that elected house. At the end of the day, as we’ve always said, for this place to function, and as it has functioned, the opposition, as chosen by the people in an election, determines the party members in this chamber who represent the opposition; and the government’s side is chosen by the people in a general election who choose the governing side, including all of their appointees.

Again, the important question here is this: If you’re not accountable through a democratic process in the other chamber, to whom are you accountable?