- Member of Parliament
- Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs
- Liberal
- Beauséjour
- New Brunswick
- Voting Attendance: 65%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $117,680.95
- Government Page
- Mar/19/24 3:11:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our government is always focused on protecting Canadians from crime. That is why we are working with police forces, municipal authorities and provincial governments to do exactly everything we need to do to crack down on this increasingly violent criminal activity. I have had conversations with the Premier of Ontario and with police chiefs across the country. The RCMP are working in collaboration with their partners in these jurisdictions. The Canada Border Services Agency seized 68 vehicles at the port of Montreal this week alone.
We will continue to do everything we need to do to keep Canadians safe.
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- Feb/27/24 2:22:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have been saying for several weeks that the RCMP is looking into ArriveCAN. This is largely because senior CBSA officials sent documents to the RCMP and asked the RCMP to look into the matter.
There are several investigations under way. We will continue to be available and to give these authorities all the documents and information they need.
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- Feb/15/24 2:21:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition knows very well that the government is collaborating with parliamentary committees and the Office of the Auditor General. The Border Services Agency is doing an internal review, an investigation with respect to many of these matters, and officials have from the very beginning referred, to the RCMP, any and all information they think might be appropriate for the RCMP to investigate.
The government will always cooperate with these lawful authorities to ensure that they can do the work that Canadians properly expect them to do.
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- Feb/12/24 2:44:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, again, when the Border Services Agency was made aware of allegations around inappropriate contracting practices, the appropriate authorities were called in and an internal audit was ordered, an audit that, by the way, is still in progress.
If people did something that was not appropriate or that met a criminal standard, they will obviously be held to account. The government has been very clear: All of the processes to respect taxpayer money are essential, and that is exactly what we are going to put into place.
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- Feb/12/24 2:40:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, accountability is extremely important to us as a government. That is precisely why we took all the necessary steps as soon as we became aware of allegations of inappropriate contracting practices. We conducted an internal audit, which is still in progress. We referred matters to the appropriate authorities when necessary.
We have obviously read the report released by the Auditor General today, and we will be implementing all the measures she suggests.
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- Feb/12/24 2:31:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, just because our colleague repeats a series of allegations that are not borne out by the facts does not make them true. The facts are that the very moment that there were allegations of inappropriate contracting practices, an internal audit was begun by the president of the Canada Border Services Agency, and referrals were made to the appropriate authorities, including the RCMP.
Anybody who did not follow the contracting rules will be held to account. My friend knows that, and he should not ascribe a serious responsibility where it does not exist.
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- Nov/23/23 3:11:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my hon. friend knows very well that when any irregularity with respect to contracting practices comes to light, the responsible thing for senior public servants who administer these rules to do is to refer it to the appropriate authorities and to establish the facts from external audits. That is exactly what the Canada Border Services Agency did. If committees want to look into this matter, we welcome that exercise as well.
My hon. friend should know very well that it is not elected ministers who decide who faces criminal charges. It is the police and prosecutors, and I have every confidence they will do their job.
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- Nov/23/23 3:10:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I do not want to disappoint my colleague across the aisle, but no minister was responsible for those contracting practices. Those contracting practices were done by public servants.
We have said if committees want to look into these issues, we welcome that examination. When the Canada Border Services Agency uncovered irregularities, it called for an independent audit and referred the files to the appropriate authorities. That is what a responsible government does in spite of some of the silly questions from the other side.
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- Nov/21/23 3:10:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what I am happy to explain to the House is how seriously our government takes allegations of inappropriate behaviour with taxpayers' money and contracting or subcontracting. We are obviously very pleased that the committee is looking into this matter. We are pleased that the Auditor General is also seized with this question.
We are also pleased that the Canada Border Services Agency, when these issues came to light, took the appropriate action with internal reviews and, as was appropriate, referred any and all of these circumstances to the appropriate authorities.
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- Nov/20/23 3:11:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, just because our colleague repeats the same silly premise to the question does not make it accurate. She knows very well that the authorities in these contracting matters are in the hands of public servants, and we have said very clearly that the committee can investigate and should investigate these matters.
The Canada Border Services Agency uncovered the contracting challenge in an internal audit and did what is appropriate. It referred this to the appropriate authorities, and those who did not follow the rules will be held accountable under law.
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- Nov/20/23 3:10:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have said repeatedly that we expect all public officials responsible for contracting to follow the appropriate rules. In this case, the Canada Border Services Agency identified irregularities during a routine audit and referred the matter to the appropriate authorities, who are investigating. People who did not follow the appropriate contracting rules will face consequences according to law.
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- Oct/24/23 3:00:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as colleagues know very well, we expect public servants, at all times, to follow the appropriate Treasury Board contracting practices.
My colleague would know that, in this case, the Canada Border Services Agency, as part of its internal audit, uncovered information that it subsequently referred to the appropriate police authorities. That is exactly what has to happen in these cases. We should let the RCMP do whatever work it thinks is appropriate in this concerning circumstance.
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- Oct/17/23 3:17:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as the RCMP have confirmed, there is no active investigation. The case is closed, and authorities did not pursue any charges.
My hon. friend knows very well the RCMP operations are conducted independently from government. If he has operational questions for them, I would suggest he contact the RCMP.
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- Oct/16/23 3:16:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I told my colleague, we expect everyone who works for the Government of Canada to comply with the Treasury Board's contracting rules and any other rules that apply.
If any allegations involve criminal activity, we expect the appropriate authorities to investigate. This is exactly what our government is going to let them do.
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- Oct/16/23 3:14:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague knows very well that committees make their own decisions in terms of the work they want to do. What we have said is that, at all times, we expect people to comply with the contracting policies of the Government of Canada, and those that decide to do something that is worthy of a criminal investigation will obviously be investigated by the appropriate authorities. We do not comment on investigations that the RCMP might decide to do on any of these issues.
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- May/29/23 3:00:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as the government, we took action from the start to create authorities to review our measures to counter foreign interference in our democratic institutions.
A committee of parliamentarians representing all parties and having access to the most sensitive information will evaluate all measures that are in place and make recommendations to the government on how we can further strengthen the measures we implemented.
That is precisely the work we look forward to doing with all parliamentarians.
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- May/11/23 2:59:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have said many times that we are a government that takes the threat of foreign interference extremely seriously. We have been announcing measures since we formed government, and we have enhanced them. As far as threats against members, senators or parliamentarians are concerned, obviously this is completely unacceptable. We gave a clear directive to the authorities and intelligence agencies to share this intelligence, and we will always follow up as needed.
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- Mar/23/23 2:43:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague is fully aware that CSIS senior officials talk to federal government authorities on a regular basis to advise us on ways to strengthen our democratic institutions. That is precisely what we have been doing ever since we formed government. The appointment of the Right Hon. David Johnston is a measure that will allow us to further strengthen our democratic institutions. We have always recognized the threat of foreign interference, and we have taken measures to counter that threat.
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- Mar/23/23 2:41:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as we said many times and as I already said before the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs several weeks ago, as ministers, we get regular briefings on threats of foreign interference. We also provided provincial authorities with briefings or access to the senior officials responsible for our intelligence agencies so that they could understand the nature of the threat, which is always changing, and take the necessary measures in their jurisdictions to do what we did, which is to strengthen our democratic institutions.
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