Hon. Leo Housakos (Acting Deputy Leader of the Opposition): Minister, back to the “ArriveScam,” clearly, we now know that the RCMP is investigating, and we know the RCMP doesn’t open investigations lightly. If they are investigating, it is because they think something criminal has happened or, at bare minimum, something fraudulent or inappropriate.

Have you taken the mitigating steps to make sure this occurrence does not reoccur in the near future?

Hon. Jean-Yves Duclos, P.C., M.P., Minister of Public Services and Procurement: In this chamber, as in the other chamber, there are many people with legal training and lawyers. I am not one of them. I know, however, that it is presumptive and it may not be appropriate to presume the intentions or the actions of the RCMP. The RCMP is independent of the federal government, so to try to interpret what they may be thinking or doing is outside of the scope of parliamentarians.

This being said, I’ve shared information that you knew already, which is that my colleague responsible for the Canada Border Services Agency has had his officials look into the matter through a process that I think we can have confidence in.