QUESTION PERIOD — Public Services and Procurement
Procurement Process
February 29, 2024
Senator Gold, it’s not enough just to recognize all the breaches, because the government would take hours, days, weeks and months to go through all the breaches of this government. The truth of the matter is that there is the following: the SNC-Lavalin scandal; the WE Charity scandal; and the refusal to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, on the list of terrorist organizations. We have “ArriveScam” that has popped up in the last few months — hundreds of millions of dollars, but the government is not forthcoming with information. Emails are being shredded. There are cases being sent to the RCMP. This is not new with this government.
What is also not new is the constant contempt for Parliament whenever Parliament asks for information. There’s always stalling going on. You’re even suing people to prevent information from being made public. These are all facts, Senator Gold.
Yesterday, in the House of Commons, there was a committee that has again called on the government to return all expenses regarding “ArriveScam,” and also to recoup all money from contractors who were involved in “ArriveScam.” Will your government recoup the money from the WE Charity — going back to that scandal? Will you recoup the money, Senator Gold?
Thank you for your questions and comments. All of the issues surrounding ArriveCAN are being investigated properly within the Canada Border Services Agency, the Department of National Defence or by the RCMP. Until those investigations are completed, it is inappropriate and improper to assume what the results will be and what next steps the government will take.
What the government has done — at the earliest opportunity when the information became clear — was suspend the contracts with all the companies and, even more recently, investigate an order with regard to Dalian. It’s a review of the whole program to make sure that the programs that benefit Indigenous enterprises are not being dealt with improperly by people seeking to take advantage of it.
Senator Gold, you’re not answering the question. Did the government recoup the money from the old scandal — the WE Charity scandal? The contract was cancelled, but money had been paid out. Has the money paid out in the scandalous WE Charity exercise been recouped back for Canadian taxpayers? In regard to the money that was paid out to Laith Marouf, the anti-Semite who was fired, was that money recouped by the government? I’d like an answer.
My second question is the following: Last week, and over a number of weeks, you told us the three companies involved in “ArriveScam” had their contracts cancelled. Have those contracts been cancelled? Senator Gold, I know you’re a man of integrity and you wouldn’t want to mislead this chamber, so please give us some honest answers.
Thank you for your confidence in my integrity; I appreciate that. Until investigations are completed, and until investigations into all the contracts — for example, Dalian has been doing business with the federal government since 2007. It is only fair and appropriate that there be proper investigation into the nature of these contracts and what representations were made before any action is taken. That’s due process.
