Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Senator Gold, on October 27, I asked your colleague Minister Alghabra a question on the backlog of complaints due to flight delays and cancellations at the Canadian Transportation Agency.

At the time your colleague said:

I have met with the chair of the CTA just recently, first, wanting to get briefed by her on the situation, the volume of complaints and the resources that are needed. Our government is now working with the CTA on making sure they have the resources they need.

And yet we are reading in Blacklock’s this morning that the number of complaints has now reached 30,000, and the minister is now saying that cabinet is “figuring out how we can improve the system.”

Senator Gold, your government is constantly working at a snail’s pace when it comes to providing services to Canadians. Can you please share with us what your government is doing in “figuring out how” to improve the system?

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): I guess we will have to wait another 40 days, I will ask the question again and hopefully not get the same answer.

In a new report entitled Patrol and Persuade, Safeguard Defenders, a human rights organization based in Spain, found dozens of additional overseas Chinese police service centres around the world, including at least two right here in Canada.

Senator Gold, your government has told us that it is taking the matter seriously and investigating. Why then do we have to find out what is happening in our own country from an organization operating overseas? Had the government identified these additional stations prior to this report? If so, why was this information not shared with the public? Most importantly, why are these illegal police stations still operating on Canadian soil?

Hon. Donald Neil Plett (Leader of the Opposition): Government leader, in his November 15 report, Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux identified $14.2 billion in new measures announced in the Fall Economic Statement for which no specific details were provided.

This spending represents 17% of all new measures in the Fall Economic Statement. As Mr. Giroux testified at the House of Commons Finance Committee, “This lack of transparency presents challenges for parliamentarians and the public in scrutinizing the Government’s spending plans.” He also said that “The government knows quite well the measures that are going to be funded, but is not disclosing them.”

Again, let me repeat: “The government knows quite well the measures that are going to be funded, but is not disclosing them.”

Senator Gold, why won’t your government come clean and tell Canadians what this $14.2 billion of new spending is for?