John Brassard
Barrie South—Innisfil, Ontario · Conservative · Canada
“Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for what I thought was a very thoughtful speech on a very concerning bill. It is not just the NDP or Conservatives who are concerned, but civil liberty organizations and other stakeholders. The Privacy Commissioner himself has significant concerns about the privacy aspects of this legislation.”
“Madam Speaker, the way the Liberals are acting tonight, it is almost like the arsonist who sets a house on fire and then we expect him to put the fire out. It is almost the same thing. I want to go back to the issue of the Privacy Commissioner.”
“Mr. Speaker, this goes back to April 2025, when Canadians elected a minority government to provide oversight, accountability and transparency so that the opposition parties could hold them to account and provide that oversight.”
“Madam Speaker, the hon. member for Oshawa does not even know this yet, but there is breaking news that the Liberal government is actually standing down on some of the contentious parts of the bill, namely the retention of records. They are talking about reducing it from one year to six months now.”
“Madam Speaker, I was at the committee meeting the day the Privacy Commissioner was there, along with other witnesses representing social media platforms. Before the meeting, all the witnesses indicated that they had submitted their briefs to the committee. However, members were not able to see them because they had not received them.”
“Mr. Speaker, if we talk to anyone on the street or to businesses suffering from 11 years of failed Liberal policies, they will tell us that Canada is in a recession, no matter how the Liberals or the media try to spin it, and that things are not getting any better.”
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“Mr. Speaker, it is really rich when a member of the old government, purporting to be the new government, stands up and does not accept responsibility or accountability for what went on in the past. The Liberals want us to forget about the past. They want us to forget about all the corruption, all the cronyism and all the kleptocracy that went on, where government insiders and well-connected friends and families benefited as a result of the Liberals' being in power, while the people they governed suffered. They continue to suffer. People need the money back. They want the money back. There has to be accountability in the government, and that is what we are asking for with the motion.”
“If someone is a friend, a family member or a lobbyist who is connected with the government, they are going to benefit to a great degree, and without mechanisms of accountability and transparency, and our ability to provide oversight as an official opposition and as all opposition members in this place, it is going to be awfully difficult for us to keep track not only of where the $26 billion is going to go but also what has happened in the past, the history of the past. As we have seen with GC Strategies, the government has shown itself not to be transparent and not to be accountable at times when it needs to be. This is not a new government; this is an old government with new wax on the car.”
“It has completely undermined Canadians' ability to place their trust in their own government, old government or new government, and the government certainly needs to make an example out of GC strategies, signalling a new message that this level of fraud and incompetence will not be tolerated. My concern going forward, quite frankly, and I spoke about this in August 2022, is what we just saw with the main estimates, where we are seeing $26 billion in additional increases for contractor costs. My concern is that the kleptocracy is going to continue within the current government.”
“There are those words with “bility” again. Why not, and this is a fair question, issue a lifetime ban on the company? Why not issue a specific ban on Kristian Firth and Darren Anthony to ensure that the people involved do not reincorporate under a different name and continue with their grift on the government? They can, in effect, change the name, start another company, and even after these seven years, or perhaps within it, they can come back to the government and start issuing contracts again. This sets a tone. Obviously, the GC Strategies scandal has set the standard and tolerance for this kind of behaviour, signalling that the government can be taken advantage of and exploited at the expense of the taxpayer.”
“The government could not even guarantee that the security clearances were not having an impact on what was going on, and in knowing the damaging facts and the evidence that would come in light of the Auditor General's report, the Liberals were quick to issue a seven-year ban on government contracts to GC Strategies. It was not lost on me and should not be lost on members that this seven-year ban happened on the Friday before the Auditor General's scathing report came out on Tuesday morning. Whether that speaks to the government's having a heads-up and trying to get ahead of the story is certainly in question, but the ban was not issued out of the goodness of its heart but rather to overcompensate for its prior lack of accountability, responsibility, variability and traceability in their work on and with GC Strategies.”
“A sample of the contracts, and this was reaffirmed again the other day by the Auditor General, showed that 33 out of the 35 contracts required security clearance, with 50% of those contracts not able to show that all contract resources, including the subcontractors, had the appropriate security clearance prior to collecting the award. Obviously, we have heard about the implications of foreign interference and the fact that there are regimes that are trying to infiltrate and are successfully infiltrating our institutions, such as Parliament and other areas.”
“This is also not considering the cost to investigate, spend time, and have taxpayer dollars investigate it and uncover the depth of the scam instead of working to improve this country. (1330) I think of the thing that really bothered me. As the most recent chair of the ethics committee, where we were studying foreign interference, the impact it was having on our country and the fact that many parts of our institutions and some political parties as well had been infiltrated by foreign interference, there were a lot of things that disturbed me. The security lapses that occurred were probably one of the things that really disturbed me throughout the whole saga.”
“This deliberately allowed room for the government to overpay for contracts and waste taxpayer dollars. The government chose, 82% of the time, not to verify whether it was overpaying. It was overpaying on these contracts yet still awarded GC Strategies $92.7 million in contracts, with $64.5 million being paid out, and yet there is nothing to show for it. There is nothing to show for the corruption or the fraud that occurred. The project was supposed to cost only $80,000, and yet it ballooned to $64.5 million, 80,000% over budget. Even the Auditor General says that she does not know what the true cost would be because she does not have access to certain record-keeping, etc.”
“All we are asking is for the government to take accountability, support the motion to claw back the fraudulent spending and ensure that Canadians, hard-working taxpayers, are able to get their money back. Is that a hard ask? It is not, especially in a situation as egregious as this. Let us go back and look at what happened with GC Strategies, which is, again, reaffirmed in the Auditor General's report from the other day. I happened to be in the lock-up. I listened to the Auditor General. Having gone through all of this in the previous Parliament, I was shocked once again by just how deep the rot goes and how systemic a problem this is within the current government. There are no signs that it is going to change. In 82% of the contracts that were received, the government failed to verify that the fees paid did not exceed market rates.”
“During the campaign, I would go around talking to people. We would talk about the Liberals and the history of the last 10 years. I would say to them that even if new wax is put on a car, it is still a 10-year-old car. That is where the Liberal government was. It still has dents and engine problems. It has lots of problems, and a new wax was not going to change anything. The government is not a new government. We can shift people around. We can change titles and pretend that it is not the same Liberal government that has been driving our country into the ground over the last 10 years, but it is. This would not be tolerated in the private sector, so why are we tolerating it in this place?”
“As we relate to the GC Strategies situation today, a lot has gone on in the past. Words that end in “bility” seem to have been lost in this place, such as “responsibility”, accepting responsibility. "Accountability” is another word that has been lost in this place. Certainly ability has been lost in this place as well as among the Liberal government. In the private sector, the people responsible for the situation would be fired. They would be publicly shamed and never hired within industry again. That is how egregious the GC Strategies situation has become. Again, the Liberals have avoided all accountability and all responsibility for actions by labelling themselves as a new government, when in reality, not only are the ministers responsible for the failure still around, but many of them have been promoted into different positions.”
“Mr. Speaker, as this is my first time rising in this place for a speech on a particular subject, I would like to thank the people of Barrie South—Innisfil for electing me for a fourth term. I take their support with great humility and responsibility as well. I certainly appreciate the support. I am going to be splitting my time with the member for Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley . It is almost as if we were watching the movie Men in Black with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. There were times when they had a pen-like device; they would actually press a button, and it would flash a white light. Everybody who saw that light forgot what had gone on in the past. It is almost as if the Liberal Party were using that light to make everybody, not just in this place but across the country, forget what has gone on in the past.”
“Mr. Speaker, with respect to not having a budget, there have been rumours that the Liberals may separate operational and capital budgets so that we do not get a full reading of the state of finances in this country as they relate to revenue, debt and deficit. Does the member think that is a possibility with the government?”
“Mr. Speaker, it has been 18 months since we had a budget. Just a couple of weeks ago, Parliament voted, with a majority, for the government to present a budget. We have seen, over the last 10 years, a decline in our democracy, which happened long before Donald Trump became President of the United States. Would the hon. member not agree with me that this constitutes a contempt of Parliament in a way that we have seen a pattern of from the government?”
“Mr. Speaker, it will have been 18 months since this country saw a federal budget. We all recall the fiasco when the fall economic statement was dropped in this Parliament. Would the hon. member not agree that this is the time to have a budget so that Canadians can openly and transparently see what the numbers are? Of course, in the fall, we knew that the Liberals had blown through their fiscal guardrail and the deficit was $60 billion. Does the member share my sentiment, perhaps a cynic might, that they are actually trying to cook the books and hide the numbers from Canadians?”
“Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member knows, today we are dealing with an opposition motion that speaks specifically to the heart of affordability. There are many Canadian families, single moms and seniors who cannot afford groceries. We have actually seen inflation on grocery prices increase by three times in the last couple months; by comparison, in the United States they have dropped by 2%. Would the hon. member not agree with me that these inflationary causes are a direct result of policy-driven initiatives by his own government?”
“Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister said that he should be judged by the prices at the grocery store, so let us do that. Food inflation has tripled in the past two months, and Canadian families will pay $800 more on food this year than last year, so there goes their tax cut. That is about $17,000 on food alone this year. Families, single moms and seniors are at a breaking point, and this cannot go on. Do the Liberals not see what their inflationary spending is doing to families, or do they just not care? Why will the Prime Minister not table a budget and show the true cost of his inflationary deficits and debts?”
“Mr. Speaker, “food prices up” has replaced “elbows up” at grocery stores lately as food inflation has tripled in the past two months. It is so bad now that even sale items are too expensive for Canadian families, and we are lucky if we walk out of a grocery store with two bags for less than $80. Inflationary spending must be reversed so Canadians can afford to put food on the table. Will the Liberals present a budget to show that they are at least trying to bring food prices down?”
“Mr. Speaker, the hon. member just said something very interesting, which is that the Liberals are going to table a budget in the fall so they have the right figures. Do they not have the right figures to table a budget now? Does that make any sense?”
“Mr. Speaker, I always find it comical, if not sad, when the Liberals are questioning data that comes from Statistics Canada or Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, like they did with my hon. colleague. I do want to talk about the $800 tax decrease that was announced. I want to counter that by saying that the average food costs are going to go up, per family, this year by $800. The average family in the country is going to spend $17,000 of its after-tax dollars on food. Would the hon. member not agree that food insecurity is a major threat to many Canadian families, single moms and seniors?”
“Mr. Speaker, in the absence of a budget, the main estimates came out last week, and they said there would be a 37% increase, to $26 billion a year. That will cost the average family about $1,400 in consultant fees. This is on top of the fact that the bureaucracy has grown almost 50% under the government. Does the hon. member not think there is a disconnect there, that we basically have a tax cut that is going to reduce the amount of taxes by the cost of a cup of coffee a week, yet on the back end of that, it is going to cost each Canadian family $1,400 a year for new consultants? Is that not a disconnect in her view?”
“Mr. Speaker, on the issue of housing affordability and attainability, I think we can all agree there is a crisis in this country. One area in which we need to address that is obviously in the case of a federal budget. We have not had a federal budget in the last 18 months. Members will recall the fiasco that went on with the fall economic statement being tabled by the then House leader , not even by the then finance minister , because she had resigned that day. Does the hon. member agree that in the absence of a federal budget, it is difficult for us as parliamentarians to understand not just how the government is going to spend its money but also where that money is going to come from?”
“Mr. Speaker, if I am not mistaken, the hon. member was at one point the President of the Treasury Board, who is responsible for overall government spending and fiscal accountability. One of the areas of concern that I have and many of my colleagues and Canadians have is that the Prime Minister has announced he is not going to have a budget until the fall. This is in the backdrop of him saying during the election campaign that “a plan beats no plan”. Would the hon. member not agree, especially given his experience as the President of the Treasury Board, that this is the case and that Canadians should be seeing a budget so they know where the money is going to be spent and where the money is coming from?”
“Mr. Speaker, for seven months, parliamentary committees have sat idle while, according to the Prime Minister , the country is facing an existential threat. It appears that he is in no rush to have them constituted. The committees are an important function of our democracy. Committees are where bills are scrutinized; where witnesses tell MPs about the impacts these bills and threats are having on their businesses, their lives and their communities; and where the government is held to account. We do not have a budget, and without committees, there will be no oversight or accountability. Maybe that is what the Prime Minister wants. Will the Prime Minister commit to ensuring that committees are in place before his summer vacation starts?”
“Mr. Speaker, a lot of the things that the hon. member was relaying are things that I heard throughout the campaign, particularly from those who grew up in eastern European countries, where they saw the rise of socialism, the incremental loss of rights and freedoms, media propaganda, Internet controls, what we can see and say online, and then, eventually, the confiscation of firearms from law-abiding people. What I heard in my riding sounds very similar to the arguments that he heard in his riding. I am just wondering if he could comment a little bit more on that.”