Hon. Yonah Martin (Deputy Leader of the Opposition): My question is for the government leader in the Senate.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has given McKinsey & Company consultants contracts worth $24.5 million for so-called management advice. A public servant with this department told Radio-Canada last month:

We had a few presentations on very generic, completely vapid stuff. They arrived with nice colours, nice presentations and said they would revolutionize everything . . . In the end, we don’t have any idea what they did . . .

Leader, the wait times and backlog in this department in recent years are arguably the worst ever. Why did the Trudeau government give McKinsey millions of taxpayer dollars when whatever advice it was providing to the immigration department was obviously not working?

Senator Plett: I don’t doubt that you’re doing your part; it’s the Trudeau government that has a long history of denying Canadians, including parliamentarians, access to information about what their government is doing and how taxpayers’ money is spent. For example, I find it hard to believe that the CBC still doesn’t know how much it spent on its failed lawsuit against the Conservative Party of Canada. My question asking for that information has been on the Order Paper since May 25, 2021.

I also find it hard to believe that no one in this government has any idea on how many middle-class jobs were created in Canada by sending tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to China through the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. That question has been on the Senate Order Paper since March 30, 2021.

Leader, if this situation isn’t a perfect example of the absolute contempt shown by this Trudeau government toward the Senate, Canadians and accountability, then what is it, leader?

Senator Martin: Leader, there are well over 2 million applications caught in the backlog at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Today, according to the government’s own website, the application processing time for a skilled tradesperson seeking entry to Canada is 70 months.

Despite the massive backlog and little evidence Canadians are getting good value for money spent on the McKinsey contracts, the Trudeau government revised an immigration department contract during the pandemic to give McKinsey even more money.

Leader, could you tell us why your government believed McKinsey deserved extra money from Canadian taxpayers for a job done so poorly?

Senator Plett: Leader, in May 2020 I asked you why the Trudeau government instructed public servants to ignore potential cases of fraud, and pay out emergency benefits, even when abuse was suspected. At that time, 200,000 applications were reportedly red-flagged for possible fraud.

You said:

There will be time — and the government is committed to ensuring this — when the tax season and taxes are filed in the coming year that all cases where there have been instances where monies were given incorrectly, either mistakenly in good faith or by fraud, will be pursued. Money will be reimbursed. In cases of fraud, appropriate sanctions will be applied.

Those were your words.

Leader, the Trudeau government said back then, “We’ll deal with it later.” Now your government is saying, “We won’t deal with it at all.”

Millions of Canadians will be doing their taxes soon, leader. Will you be so lax in going after them if they owe money or make mistakes?