Kelly McCauley

Mr. Speaker, after a year of missed deadlines, tens of millions of overpayments, endless talking points, as we see here, the Liberal Phoenix fiasco is getting worse. Now the Liberals are failing public servants on maternity and disability, with 80% of recipients not receiving their pay on time. Does the member have a talking point for the 80% that are missing?When will the Minister of Public Services stop hiding behind her deputy minister, take responsibility, and fix the Liberal Phoenix fiasco?

Madam Speaker, the SNC scandal has shown Canadians exactly what this Prime Minister thinks of people who speak out against corruption and wrongdoing: He fires them. The new Treasury Board president was at our committee for our unanimous report to update legislation that protects whistle-blowers, a report that the Liberal government promptly threw in the garbage. Will the Treasury Board president commit now to implementing the recommendations made by the committee and protect Canada's whistle-blowers?

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals introduced the accountability-destroying, $7-billion vote 40 Liberal slush fund on the pretense that it would better align government spending. Now the PBO has once again reported that this measure has been an abject failure. The Liberals killed spending oversight in an election year so that they could spend on what they wanted with zero accountability.Will the new Treasury Board president listen to the Parliamentary Budget Officer and eliminate the vote 40 Liberal slush fund?

Mr. Speaker, it has been a year since the start of the Liberal Phoenix fiasco. Thousands of government employees continue to be underpaid, overpaid, and some not paid at all. Internal documents prove that the minister was warned not to proceed, and yet she still did. She ignored these warnings, and a year later people are still caught in the Liberals' fiasco, with no end in sight. For a year the minister has agreed that the situation is unacceptable—when did we hear that—and spends all of her time blaming others for her incompetence. On what day will this fiasco finally be cleaned up?

Mr. Speaker, if the minister spent half the time fixing her errors as she does blaming others, we would not be in this situation. The minister can try to spin this all she wants, but the truth is this. She knew Phoenix was not ready and she decided to move ahead anyway. That was her decision alone. Now the government employees are getting incorrect T4s as they prepare to file their income tax, and no one is willing to help them or respond. What does the minister have planned to help people being penalized for her incompetence?

Mr. Speaker, the public works minister has misled Canadians on the scope and cost of the Phoenix pay fiasco every step of the way. Now she is adding her personal touches to the jet fighter program by placing a lifetime gag order on over 200 public servants and is manufacturing evidence to support a fake capability gap. She has even told the House that it would be foolhardy to negotiate pricing before committing to the sole-source purchase. With this track record, how can Canadians possibly trust the minister to buy the right jet at the right price for our air force?

Madam Speaker, the Minister of Public Services and Procurement, both in the House and in committee, stated that only 77 employees are affected by the new Phoenix payroll system. We all know that this is false. Everyone of us in the House have been barraged with calls from government employees unable to get their paycheques.Why did the minister choose to repeatedly mislead the committee and the House about the seriousness of the Liberals' mismanagement?

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Liberals used their majority in committee to shamefully shut down a study on the Boeing F-18 Super Hornet sole-source purchase. The procurement minister's own mandate from the Prime Minister states, “Government and its information should be open by default”. In case members were not listening, that was “open by default”.The minister is cynically ignoring these instructions. Why is she blocking information about the Super Hornet purchase from Canadians?

Mr. Speaker, 240 federal public servants have been forbidden to publicly discuss details of the Liberals politically motivated, sole-sourced Super Hornet purchase, a deal that will cost thousands of jobs and waste billions of taxpayers' dollars.In fact, this gag order forbids them from discussing the project for the rest of their lives, a move condemned as heavy handed by two former federal procurement chiefs.Why are the Liberals muzzling public servants, and what are they trying to hide from Canadians?

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal implementation of the Phoenix pay system has been a complete and utter disaster. Senior officials and the Minister of Public Services and Procurement knew of the countless risks with the Phoenix launch, but they went ahead with it anyway. This has cost the taxpayers well over $50 million and has damaged the lives of over 80,000 public servants. Why will the minister not rule out bonuses for the people responsible for this train wreck?

Mr. Speaker, Canada must pull its weight internationally. With this budget's $8.5-billion cut to military equipment spending, this is becoming less and less possible. The Liberals are not only putting at risk the livelihoods of tens of thousands of skilled industry workers, we are also pushing the schedules for our shipbuilding strategy further and further away.Canada has a long, proud military history. Why are the Liberals gutting our defence capabilities to pay for their out-of-control spending?

Mr. Speaker, it's been almost a month since the Minister of Public Services and Procurement told Canadians that there is no end in sight to the Liberal Phoenix pay fiasco. Since blowing off her deadline, the minister has misled Canadians on the scope, depth, and severity of the backlog. Yesterday, her officials would not even provide a timeline to resolve the outstanding 18,000 cases, and more than 200,000 transactions that still need to be processed. The minister will not commit to a deadline and she will not tell us the full number of backlog cases. What else is the minister hiding from us about the Phoenix pay fiasco?

Madam Speaker, Albertans cannot catch a break under this Liberal government. In their most recent example of “it moves, then tax it” policy, they are now raising taxes on vulnerable Canadians suffering from diabetes. A mother in my riding reached out to me with a desperate plea. Her son needs seven needles a day to manage his condition, but no longer qualifies for the disability credit. Enough is enough. How much more are my constituents supposed to take from the government before it will realize that its endless taxation is hurting Canadian families?

It was their government, Mr. Speaker. Then the minister paid out $5 million in bonuses to the officials who implemented the disastrous Phoenix pay program.Add that to hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Prime Minister's trip to a billionaire's island and tens of millions paid to the executives of Bombardier. It is clear the Liberals are out of touch with the real middle class in Canada. With so many outstanding pay issues, bungled T4s, and endless phone queues, why did the minister pay $5 million in performance bonuses to her accomplices in the Liberal Phoenix pay fiasco?

Mr. Speaker, public servants affected by the Liberal Phoenix pay fiasco are maxing out their credit cards to make ends meet. With Christmas weeks away, they are wondering if there will be anything left to put under their trees. These are real people, not just case numbers.When will the minister devote the same energy to fixing her mess as she does to blaming others for it?

Mr. Speaker, let me congratulate the Minister of Public Services and Procurement on her Taxpayers Federation Teddy nomination for government waste for the Liberal Phoenix fiasco. It is two years in and already almost half a billion dollars over budget. Despite this never-ending drain on the taxpayers, it has come to light that 100% of seagoing Fisheries and Coast Guard employees are impacted. When is the minister going to stop repeating empty platitudes, do her job, and fix the Liberal Phoenix fiasco?

Mr. Speaker, the out-of-touch Liberals are at it again. First it was their $12-million gift to the billionaire owners of Loblaws. Now they are giving half a billion dollars to subsidize electric vehicles made in Trump's America. Now whether it is Alberta's oil sands or General Motors in Oshawa, the government seems perfectly happy to drive our businesses and jobs out of Canada.Why are the Liberals subsidizing wealthy car buyers and U.S. car builders, while everyday Canadians get a carbon tax?

Mr. Speaker, if the House will allow it, I would like to submit a document from the Library of Parliament showing the full-time equivalents for the Canada Revenue Agency. It shows that the Liberal government chop, chop, chopped 800 jobs when it took over, and it is further forecasting, according to departmental plans, to chop another 800 jobs.

Mr. Speaker, on Wednesday, the Prime Minister stood in the House and bragged about killing jobs in Alberta by cancelling oil and gas exploration tax credits. Thousands of Albertans rely on jobs in our oil and gas industry. Can the Minister of Infrastructure stand and tell us if he and the member for Edmonton Centre support this job-killing decision?

Mr. Speaker, it has been months since we have had a jump in EI in Edmonton, and it has been months since the government excluded Edmonton region from the EI extension. It is not an issue associated with the fire recently in Fort McMurray. We have raised this issue several times with the government. When we finally received a response from the Liberals, it was nothing but a flippant talking point and non-answers. The Liberal MPs from Edmonton have failed to represent their hard-working constituents in the Edmonton region. We know workers in the Edmonton region qualify. Why is the minister forcing them to wait for the EI extension?

Mr. Speaker, Public Services and Procurement recently stated that the new ships for the Royal Canadian Navy do not have to be built in Canada. Minister after minister, even today, has stood in this House and told us they have a plan, a plan to grow the economy and create jobs through infrastructure spending. Yet when they have the opportunity to do so, the first thing they do is look to send the jobs overseas instead of supporting our shipbuilding sector.Will the minister tell us why the Liberals would rather farm out jobs to foreign countries than create the high-paying jobs here in Canada?

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of National Defence testified that he could not even provide a ballpark timeline for the jet fighter replacement process. Now we learn that they are sole-sourcing the Super Hornet. Here is great news. The International Business Times reports that Canada's order of the Super Hornet would create thousands of jobs in the United States.Will the minister tell us why he misled Parliament when he was planning to sole source and create thousands of jobs south of the border?

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government has repeatedly broken laws by sharing reporters' private information and their questions on the multi-billion dollar Irving shipbuilding project. Now the government has refused to release a 200-page access to information request on the Liberals' sharing of this private information with Irving. Why is the government continuing to break the law and what is it trying to hide?

Mr. Speaker, not two weeks ago, at the committee of the whole, the Minister of National Defence stated that journalists' questions to the government would never again be farmed out to private corporations like Irving, which promptly and repeatedly threaten to sue the journalist.The Minister of Public Services and Procurement admitted that it never should have happened in the first place, but it has happened again, this time to The Globe and Mail.Could the Minister of National Defence tell us why he misled the House, or should I just skip the middle man and direct the question right to Irving?

Mr. Speaker, apparently the budget to purchase the new fixed-wing search and rescue aircraft jumped magically by more than $1 billion. The only problem, though, is no one thought to tell all the companies bidding on the contract about this change. Once again, because of the Liberal government's mismanagement of the project, taxpayers may now be liable for millions in damages and legal costs. Why did the Liberals not disclose a massive budget change to all the bidders on this contract?

Madam Speaker, the government claims it wants Trans Mountain built, and it claims it wants to help unemployed energy workers in Alberta, yet it funds a group that is committed to stopping all pipelines, especially Trans Mountain. Do the Minister of Infrastructure and his colleague, the member for Edmonton Centre, support using taxpayers' dollars to fund protesters whose sole job is to stop the Trans Mountain pipeline?

Mr. Speaker, in response to my question on the Liberal mismanagement of the search and rescue aircraft, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement implied that perhaps I was involved in pyromanic criminal activity.I would like to give the opportunity to the member to perhaps apologize and retract his comments.

Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary is new to this file, so I will fill him in on something. Your government was responsible for starting Phoenix. Your government is—

Madam Speaker, with permission of the House, I would like to table the recent Parliamentary Budget Officer's economic and fiscal update. We heard the parliamentary secretary from Global Affairs say that the $2 billion from steel and aluminum tariffs were being used to help out companies in Canada. This report shows that the huge majority of this money has disappeared into government coffers and has not extended to our industries.

Madam Speaker, it sounds like he has confirmed that the President of the Treasury Board is part of the court action. The President of the Treasury Board claims that he interfered with the Davie ship deal as part of his job to oversee spending. At committee yesterday, he was not able to name one other contract that he thought was part of his job to review, not even the failed Phoenix pay system.Why did he only interfere with the Davie deal, and what is he trying to hide?

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Public Services told us in committee last month that the backlog of 82,000 government employees affected by the Liberal Phoenix pay fiasco would be cleared by October 31. We are now being told by the minister that they will fail to meet this deadline. It is unacceptable that some employees are waiting months and months to get paid. Why does the minister keep making promises she knows she cannot keep, and when will she call in someone who will actually get the job done?

Madam Speaker, the President of the Treasury Board has tried to downplay his ties to Irving, claiming that he was only copied on one letter. According to the lobbyist registry, he has met with Irving 16 times in the past two and a half years.Does the President of the Treasury Board still want to claim that he has had little contact with Irving, or perhaps his meetings with the Irvings were just part of a pilot project?

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order arising from question period. The Minister of Environment and Climate Change had commented on the growth in foreign direct investment. I would like to table a report from the OECD, which shows that under the government, it has been negative $166 billion in direct investment since the Liberals came to power.

Mr. Speaker, Canada's infrastructure security should be a top priority for the government, yet despite concerns from security professionals, it is allowing a state-owned Chinese takeover of Aecon.Will the Minister of Public Safety do the best thing for Canada's national security and commit to a full section 25 national security review?

Mr. Speaker, the Royal Canadian Navy requires tugboats to serve its fleet, presenting an exciting opportunity for Canadian shipyards. Thousands of jobs in this country depend on a healthy shipbuilding sector, but the government is leaving people with uncertainty. Just this Friday, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement said, “The vessels will be built in Canada”, but her officials now say that new vessels do not have to be built in Canada.Who is telling the truth here, and will the government stand and unequivocally state that those jobs will be staying in Canada and not exported?

Mr. Speaker, I rise to seek unanimous consent to table two documents to the House. One is from the Library of Parliament, which is on CBSA's spending by program. The second one is from the Library of Parliament listing the population of federal public services by department.Both documents show that despite what the Minister of Immigration said, that there was $400 million cut, the high of spending during this period was during the Conservative Harper government of 2014. The report shows that since then, the Liberal government has cut $300 million.

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I would like the House's permission to table the most recent Transportation Safety Board of Canada document. Why? It is because the departmental results state the goal is to make the transportation system safer. For three years, since the Minister of Transport has taken over the job, the document states this has not been met and our rail system is less safe. This goes against the minister's comment that it is a number one priority. It is not.

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order to seek unanimous consent of the House to table two documents.The first is the Parliamentary Budget Officer's economic and fiscal outlook from April 2018 and the second is the OECD economic outlook and interim economic outlook, which will show, contrary to the Minister of Environment's claim that we have the fastest-growing environment, that we are not even second or third. In fact, this year Canada has the fourth-fastest-growing environment in the G7.

Mr. Speaker, in response to my question on the Liberal mismanagement of the search and rescue aircraft, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement implied that perhaps I was involved in pyromanic criminal activity.I would like to give the opportunity to the member to perhaps apologize and retract his comments.

Mr. Speaker, after a year of missed deadlines, tens of millions of overpayments, endless talking points, as we see here, the Liberal Phoenix fiasco is getting worse. Now the Liberals are failing public servants on maternity and disability, with 80% of recipients not receiving their pay on time. Does the member have a talking point for the 80% that are missing?When will the Minister of Public Services stop hiding behind her deputy minister, take responsibility, and fix the Liberal Phoenix fiasco?

Madam Speaker, the Minister of Public Services and Procurement, both in the House and in committee, stated that only 77 employees are affected by the new Phoenix payroll system. We all know that this is false. Everyone of us in the House have been barraged with calls from government employees unable to get their paycheques.Why did the minister choose to repeatedly mislead the committee and the House about the seriousness of the Liberals' mismanagement?

Madam Speaker, the President of the Treasury Board has tried to downplay his ties to Irving, claiming that he was only copied on one letter. According to the lobbyist registry, he has met with Irving 16 times in the past two and a half years.Does the President of the Treasury Board still want to claim that he has had little contact with Irving, or perhaps his meetings with the Irvings were just part of a pilot project?

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government has repeatedly broken laws by sharing reporters' private information and their questions on the multi-billion dollar Irving shipbuilding project. Now the government has refused to release a 200-page access to information request on the Liberals' sharing of this private information with Irving. Why is the government continuing to break the law and what is it trying to hide?

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Public Services told us in committee last month that the backlog of 82,000 government employees affected by the Liberal Phoenix pay fiasco would be cleared by October 31. We are now being told by the minister that they will fail to meet this deadline. It is unacceptable that some employees are waiting months and months to get paid. Why does the minister keep making promises she knows she cannot keep, and when will she call in someone who will actually get the job done?

Madam Speaker, it sounds like he has confirmed that the President of the Treasury Board is part of the court action. The President of the Treasury Board claims that he interfered with the Davie ship deal as part of his job to oversee spending. At committee yesterday, he was not able to name one other contract that he thought was part of his job to review, not even the failed Phoenix pay system.Why did he only interfere with the Davie deal, and what is he trying to hide?

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order arising from question period. The Minister of Environment and Climate Change had commented on the growth in foreign direct investment. I would like to table a report from the OECD, which shows that under the government, it has been negative $166 billion in direct investment since the Liberals came to power.

Mr. Speaker, let me congratulate the Minister of Public Services and Procurement on her Taxpayers Federation Teddy nomination for government waste for the Liberal Phoenix fiasco. It is two years in and already almost half a billion dollars over budget. Despite this never-ending drain on the taxpayers, it has come to light that 100% of seagoing Fisheries and Coast Guard employees are impacted. When is the minister going to stop repeating empty platitudes, do her job, and fix the Liberal Phoenix fiasco?

Madam Speaker, Albertans cannot catch a break under this Liberal government. In their most recent example of “it moves, then tax it” policy, they are now raising taxes on vulnerable Canadians suffering from diabetes. A mother in my riding reached out to me with a desperate plea. Her son needs seven needles a day to manage his condition, but no longer qualifies for the disability credit. Enough is enough. How much more are my constituents supposed to take from the government before it will realize that its endless taxation is hurting Canadian families?

Mr. Speaker, it has been months since we have had a jump in EI in Edmonton, and it has been months since the government excluded Edmonton region from the EI extension. It is not an issue associated with the fire recently in Fort McMurray. We have raised this issue several times with the government. When we finally received a response from the Liberals, it was nothing but a flippant talking point and non-answers. The Liberal MPs from Edmonton have failed to represent their hard-working constituents in the Edmonton region. We know workers in the Edmonton region qualify. Why is the minister forcing them to wait for the EI extension?

Mr. Speaker, 240 federal public servants have been forbidden to publicly discuss details of the Liberals politically motivated, sole-sourced Super Hornet purchase, a deal that will cost thousands of jobs and waste billions of taxpayers' dollars.In fact, this gag order forbids them from discussing the project for the rest of their lives, a move condemned as heavy handed by two former federal procurement chiefs.Why are the Liberals muzzling public servants, and what are they trying to hide from Canadians?

Mr. Speaker, Canada's infrastructure security should be a top priority for the government, yet despite concerns from security professionals, it is allowing a state-owned Chinese takeover of Aecon.Will the Minister of Public Safety do the best thing for Canada's national security and commit to a full section 25 national security review?

Mr. Speaker, it's been almost a month since the Minister of Public Services and Procurement told Canadians that there is no end in sight to the Liberal Phoenix pay fiasco. Since blowing off her deadline, the minister has misled Canadians on the scope, depth, and severity of the backlog. Yesterday, her officials would not even provide a timeline to resolve the outstanding 18,000 cases, and more than 200,000 transactions that still need to be processed. The minister will not commit to a deadline and she will not tell us the full number of backlog cases. What else is the minister hiding from us about the Phoenix pay fiasco?

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of National Defence testified that he could not even provide a ballpark timeline for the jet fighter replacement process. Now we learn that they are sole-sourcing the Super Hornet. Here is great news. The International Business Times reports that Canada's order of the Super Hornet would create thousands of jobs in the United States.Will the minister tell us why he misled Parliament when he was planning to sole source and create thousands of jobs south of the border?

Mr. Speaker, the Royal Canadian Navy requires tugboats to serve its fleet, presenting an exciting opportunity for Canadian shipyards. Thousands of jobs in this country depend on a healthy shipbuilding sector, but the government is leaving people with uncertainty. Just this Friday, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement said, “The vessels will be built in Canada”, but her officials now say that new vessels do not have to be built in Canada.Who is telling the truth here, and will the government stand and unequivocally state that those jobs will be staying in Canada and not exported?

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I would like the House's permission to table the most recent Transportation Safety Board of Canada document. Why? It is because the departmental results state the goal is to make the transportation system safer. For three years, since the Minister of Transport has taken over the job, the document states this has not been met and our rail system is less safe. This goes against the minister's comment that it is a number one priority. It is not.

Mr. Speaker, the out-of-touch Liberals are at it again. First it was their $12-million gift to the billionaire owners of Loblaws. Now they are giving half a billion dollars to subsidize electric vehicles made in Trump's America. Now whether it is Alberta's oil sands or General Motors in Oshawa, the government seems perfectly happy to drive our businesses and jobs out of Canada.Why are the Liberals subsidizing wealthy car buyers and U.S. car builders, while everyday Canadians get a carbon tax?

Madam Speaker, the SNC scandal has shown Canadians exactly what this Prime Minister thinks of people who speak out against corruption and wrongdoing: He fires them. The new Treasury Board president was at our committee for our unanimous report to update legislation that protects whistle-blowers, a report that the Liberal government promptly threw in the garbage. Will the Treasury Board president commit now to implementing the recommendations made by the committee and protect Canada's whistle-blowers?

Madam Speaker, with permission of the House, I would like to table the recent Parliamentary Budget Officer's economic and fiscal update. We heard the parliamentary secretary from Global Affairs say that the $2 billion from steel and aluminum tariffs were being used to help out companies in Canada. This report shows that the huge majority of this money has disappeared into government coffers and has not extended to our industries.

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order to seek unanimous consent of the House to table two documents.The first is the Parliamentary Budget Officer's economic and fiscal outlook from April 2018 and the second is the OECD economic outlook and interim economic outlook, which will show, contrary to the Minister of Environment's claim that we have the fastest-growing environment, that we are not even second or third. In fact, this year Canada has the fourth-fastest-growing environment in the G7.

Mr. Speaker, not two weeks ago, at the committee of the whole, the Minister of National Defence stated that journalists' questions to the government would never again be farmed out to private corporations like Irving, which promptly and repeatedly threaten to sue the journalist.The Minister of Public Services and Procurement admitted that it never should have happened in the first place, but it has happened again, this time to The Globe and Mail.Could the Minister of National Defence tell us why he misled the House, or should I just skip the middle man and direct the question right to Irving?

Mr. Speaker, apparently the budget to purchase the new fixed-wing search and rescue aircraft jumped magically by more than $1 billion. The only problem, though, is no one thought to tell all the companies bidding on the contract about this change. Once again, because of the Liberal government's mismanagement of the project, taxpayers may now be liable for millions in damages and legal costs. Why did the Liberals not disclose a massive budget change to all the bidders on this contract?

Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary is new to this file, so I will fill him in on something. Your government was responsible for starting Phoenix. Your government is—

Madam Speaker, the government claims it wants Trans Mountain built, and it claims it wants to help unemployed energy workers in Alberta, yet it funds a group that is committed to stopping all pipelines, especially Trans Mountain. Do the Minister of Infrastructure and his colleague, the member for Edmonton Centre, support using taxpayers' dollars to fund protesters whose sole job is to stop the Trans Mountain pipeline?

Mr. Speaker, Canada must pull its weight internationally. With this budget's $8.5-billion cut to military equipment spending, this is becoming less and less possible. The Liberals are not only putting at risk the livelihoods of tens of thousands of skilled industry workers, we are also pushing the schedules for our shipbuilding strategy further and further away.Canada has a long, proud military history. Why are the Liberals gutting our defence capabilities to pay for their out-of-control spending?

Mr. Speaker, Public Services and Procurement recently stated that the new ships for the Royal Canadian Navy do not have to be built in Canada. Minister after minister, even today, has stood in this House and told us they have a plan, a plan to grow the economy and create jobs through infrastructure spending. Yet when they have the opportunity to do so, the first thing they do is look to send the jobs overseas instead of supporting our shipbuilding sector.Will the minister tell us why the Liberals would rather farm out jobs to foreign countries than create the high-paying jobs here in Canada?

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Liberals used their majority in committee to shamefully shut down a study on the Boeing F-18 Super Hornet sole-source purchase. The procurement minister's own mandate from the Prime Minister states, “Government and its information should be open by default”. In case members were not listening, that was “open by default”.The minister is cynically ignoring these instructions. Why is she blocking information about the Super Hornet purchase from Canadians?

Mr. Speaker, I rise to seek unanimous consent to table two documents to the House. One is from the Library of Parliament, which is on CBSA's spending by program. The second one is from the Library of Parliament listing the population of federal public services by department.Both documents show that despite what the Minister of Immigration said, that there was $400 million cut, the high of spending during this period was during the Conservative Harper government of 2014. The report shows that since then, the Liberal government has cut $300 million.

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal implementation of the Phoenix pay system has been a complete and utter disaster. Senior officials and the Minister of Public Services and Procurement knew of the countless risks with the Phoenix launch, but they went ahead with it anyway. This has cost the taxpayers well over $50 million and has damaged the lives of over 80,000 public servants. Why will the minister not rule out bonuses for the people responsible for this train wreck?

It was their government, Mr. Speaker. Then the minister paid out $5 million in bonuses to the officials who implemented the disastrous Phoenix pay program.Add that to hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Prime Minister's trip to a billionaire's island and tens of millions paid to the executives of Bombardier. It is clear the Liberals are out of touch with the real middle class in Canada. With so many outstanding pay issues, bungled T4s, and endless phone queues, why did the minister pay $5 million in performance bonuses to her accomplices in the Liberal Phoenix pay fiasco?

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals introduced the accountability-destroying, $7-billion vote 40 Liberal slush fund on the pretense that it would better align government spending. Now the PBO has once again reported that this measure has been an abject failure. The Liberals killed spending oversight in an election year so that they could spend on what they wanted with zero accountability.Will the new Treasury Board president listen to the Parliamentary Budget Officer and eliminate the vote 40 Liberal slush fund?

Mr. Speaker, if the minister spent half the time fixing her errors as she does blaming others, we would not be in this situation. The minister can try to spin this all she wants, but the truth is this. She knew Phoenix was not ready and she decided to move ahead anyway. That was her decision alone. Now the government employees are getting incorrect T4s as they prepare to file their income tax, and no one is willing to help them or respond. What does the minister have planned to help people being penalized for her incompetence?

Mr. Speaker, the public works minister has misled Canadians on the scope and cost of the Phoenix pay fiasco every step of the way. Now she is adding her personal touches to the jet fighter program by placing a lifetime gag order on over 200 public servants and is manufacturing evidence to support a fake capability gap. She has even told the House that it would be foolhardy to negotiate pricing before committing to the sole-source purchase. With this track record, how can Canadians possibly trust the minister to buy the right jet at the right price for our air force?

Mr. Speaker, public servants affected by the Liberal Phoenix pay fiasco are maxing out their credit cards to make ends meet. With Christmas weeks away, they are wondering if there will be anything left to put under their trees. These are real people, not just case numbers.When will the minister devote the same energy to fixing her mess as she does to blaming others for it?