Madam Speaker, first I want to acknowledge all the veterans across this great country. As members of Parliament, we will all be heading back to our constituencies and will take part in Remembrance Day ceremonies. I was happy to attend the Poppy Campaign launch in Saskatoon just a couple of weeks ago, and this Saturday I will be selling poppies in support of all our veterans and legions in my community.

Reg Harrison was in attendance at the Poppy Campaign launch in Saskatoon. Reg was a World War II hero, in my estimation. He survived numerous crashes and close calls. There is a book about him, Tales of a Bomber Pilot Who Defied Death, authored by Deana Driver.

What is amazing is that Reg "Crash" Harrison was signing the books last year at the Nutana Legion in Saskatoon. He was 101 years old, and now he is 102 years old. He was named an honorary Snowbird with the renowned Canadian Forces aerobatics display team, which flies under the same squadron number as the one Reg served in for England. We were in Moose Jaw just a few years ago and saw “Reg ‘Crash’ Harrison” printed on one of the planes.

That is a bit of history as we head into Remembrance Day weekend.

I would like to give a shout-out to all the veterans and a reminder that Monday in Saskatoon we will host, yet again, the largest indoor Remembrance Day service in this country. Over 8,000 people attend at SaskTel Centre to remember our veterans.

We must thank and remember our veterans for the freedom we all enjoy today. I just wanted to say that up front because my community of Saskatoon is very proud of the veterans. This weekend we will be selling poppies, and then Monday we are going to celebrate and be involved in the Remembrance Day ceremony in Saskatoon.

It is my pleasure to rise on behalf of the constituents of Saskatoon—Grasswood to once again speak about the corruption of the Liberals. They are refusing to obey an order of the House that states they simply have to hand over the documents regarding another scandal of the Liberal Party, not anyone else's scandal.

Another scandal has come out of the government, and I am sure that by now Canadians are getting used to the scandals, unfortunately, since the Prime Minister took office in 2015. This one, though, believe me, is far more significant than the others. We are talking about close to $400 million, $390 million to be exact. The Liberals are going to tremendous lengths, weeks upon weeks here in the House, not wanting to simply lay down the unredacted documents we have requested. In fact you, Madam Speaker, were part of the ruling earlier.

Parliament has ground to a halt for weeks because of the Liberals' unwillingness to hand over these documents to the public. It is not us, as opposition members; we are trying to make the government accountable. It simply is not accountable, as it has been in the past, which is why we have been at this for five or six weeks in the House.

The $400 million of mismanaged taxpayer money shows once again how the government treats the hard-earned money of all Canadians. Furthermore, since we are talking about taxpayer dollars, I will say that Canadians have a right to know what the government is doing with their money. Although we already know where it went, the government refuses to admit it. Indeed we know, since the Auditor General has indicated that the money went to Liberal friends whom cabinet had appointed to the board of Sustainable Development Technology Canada, better known as SDTC. We are calling it the green slush fund.

It is green for a very good reason, and that is the money that was going into the pockets of the Liberals' friends. It is interesting, as we continue with this debate, that we could be here for months. It is important to note that the government was directly in charge of appointing the board members of this fund. This company was actually a pretty good company. It was formed in 2001, and it was very good. A lot of start-ups went to this company, got some help and proceeded on. All of a sudden, the government took over in 2015, and it made changes to the board in 2016 and 2017.

Those Liberal insiders worked their way onto the board, and they were at the trough for close to $400 million, or 186 conflicts of interest, I should say. Those are 186 instances where taxpayer money could have gone to help families struggling with the cost of living and businesses trying to stay afloat. Instead, the money was funnelled to companies with ties to senior Liberal officials.

Even worse is that $58 million of that money went to companies that should not even have been considered by SDTC. Canadians are asking questions. They want to see all governments be accountable. They want to see all governments be responsible. Both are lacking, obviously, with the Liberal federal government. We saw this with Sustainable Development Technology Canada, SDTC, once a proud government agency. Many companies used it, as I mentioned, to promote new technologies.

In fact, on their website it says, “from seed to success”. It was success from 2001 to 2015. The website today says there are three funding streams. Number one is a “one-time non-repayable contribution of $50,000 to $100,000 to validate an idea.” Number two was to “be nominated by one of SDTC’s 90+ accelerator partners.” Number three was to “have raised $100,000 to $200,000 from accredited investors.” One, two, three, it is simple.

This is frustrating, and Canadians have noted a pattern with the government. There is simply no respect for the average taxpayer. I sit on the heritage committee. Would members like for me to start on the CBC bonuses that were handed out by the government earlier in the year? It was $18 million, with $3.3 million going to the CBC executives, averaging over $70,000 per executive, handed over by either the Minister of Heritage or the Privy Council. They have now said they know their KPIs, they just have to keep going. KPIs, by the way, are key performance indicators. They have never met them. There are 14; CBC met three.

What did they do? They lowered the KPIs so they could all get the bonuses, and that is what happened. The trust is down. Ad revenue is down. Viewership is down. It is surprising that the minister and the Privy Council signed off on these massive bonuses to the executives. The Liberal government then wonders why Canadians coast to coast to coast are upset.

The finance minister said that the budget deficit would then not go over $40 billion. I remember the hon. member standing in the House talking about how they will not have a deficit over $40 billion. However, the Parliamentary Budget Officer said the other day that we are headed to a deficit of nearly $47 billion. That is $7 billion over, nearly 20% over the original $40 billion that the finance minister said she would never go over. Are we surprised with any of this?

The government then decided, because it needs money as it continues to print money and give bonuses and spread to its friends, to go after the capital gains. People who spent decades planning for their retirement are now being targeted by the government.

In the Prime Minister's Canada, so many are forced to line up today at food banks, which is a shame. What could we feed this country with $400 million? I have been to the Salvation Army in Saskatoon, which has a wonderful summer program that feeds kids at parks. It said today that one in four parents in this country had cut back on their own food consumption to ensure their children have enough to eat in the past year. In the past year alone, 58% of those who accessed the organization's food banks did so for the very first time. It was startling to hear that today. It is unbelievable what is going on in this country.

I have talked before about the fact that I come from a province that not only feeds Canada but feeds the world. It is the food basket of the world, and yet today there are more people in my province of Saskatchewan going to the food bank for the first time. I am very nervous. The holiday season is coming up. People in our communities, and everywhere in the country, are nervous about where they are going to get the extra cash needed for Christmas, but also for food. We are concerned about this.

The Auditor General was very clear in the report that the fault falls clearly back on the government's industry minister, who, in the words of the Auditor General, “did not sufficiently monitor” the contracts given out to Liberal insiders.

To give Canadians an idea of the Liberal corruption, I note there were 186 conflicts of interest. We have next week off and there is going to be a cabinet shuffle. I wonder if the Minister of Industry will be one of those people shuffled out, because this is a disaster that Canadians are starting to take notice of.

I notice the hon. member for Winnipeg North cites The Hill Times. I keep citing Canada's national newspaper, The Globe and Mail. Three weeks ago, the editorial said that Conservatives are right to ask for the unredacted papers. That is The Globe and Mail's editorial board. It is not The Hill Times, it is the editorial board of Canada's most successful newspaper. It is Canada's national newspaper. Even the board of The Globe and Mail agrees with the Conservatives, the opposition, that we are within our right asking for the unredacted documents. The parliamentary secretary keeps talking about The Hill Times, which most Canadians do not read, or do not even know what it is, but Canadians do know that The Globe and Mail stands for integrity.

We are concerned because there was a board member appointed by the green slush fund way back in 2016, just a year after Liberals took office, who runs a venture capital called, as we all have heard from day to day, Cycle Capital. Her company received a total of $250 million from this green slush fund. Some of that came before she was a board member, so that is fine, but $114 million came to the company she had invested in while she was on the board.

When someone takes governance training, and I would think this company, SDTC, had governance training, they are told that as a member of the board, they must recuse themselves when the board is talking about their company. They must leave the room. We heard that several of these board members just stood in the back, waited for the vote and just nodded their head. Their company was up to receive money and they were watching to see what the board was going to do. This is governance 1.8. It is unreal that members of the board of governors would be allowed to stay in the boardroom as other members were talking about millions of dollars going to their companies. This is inexcusable at the lowest level of the Liberal government.

How can the board members stay on the board when they are talking about giving millions of dollars to their company and they know first-hand that they should have left the room? They also know that it is not good that their company is getting money from SDTC, yet it has come about.

We have seen all the allegations, almost $400 million. That is ridiculous. Right now, Canadians from coast to coast are paying over 50% income tax in a lot of cases. They are upset over many things that our party has brought out over the last number of weeks in the House. They are upset with the carbon tax because they have now seen the playing field in this country shift dramatically with the election in the United States. There, they do not have a carbon tax. Our energy companies in my province of Saskatchewan and in Alberta are going to be under siege. They have been under siege since 2015, when the government took over.

There is an environment minister who is completely against energy in this country. He would rather go to Venezuela. He would rather go to Russia and other diplomatic countries that we should not be dealing with on energy, rather then deal with the clean energy that we produce in the prairie provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta. We are concerned about that.

We are going to see, and we have already seen, companies move their money down to Texas en masse. We have been concerned for a number of years, but now that President Trump has taken over, we are going to see a massive amount of money leave this country. One of the reasons is the carbon tax. The carbon tax has hurt this country.

We will axe the tax. We will build the homes. I know that a lot of Liberals laugh at us on this side of the House because they say the member for Carleton has a plan that makes no sense. Stu Niebergall is the executive director of the Regina and Region Home Builders' Association. Today, he said that the federal Conservative leader's promise to cut the general sales tax, better known as the GST, on new home construction is a brilliant idea that will save families hundreds of dollars a month.

They estimate at least $250 a month on mortgage payments. The member for Carleton's proposal would apply to new homes worth up to $800,000. I can tell members that they can get a pretty good home in Saskatchewan for $800,000. They probably cannot in the Toronto area, the GTA, or Vancouver, but in our province of Saskatchewan, they could get a pretty good home for $800,000.

That is from Regina, talking about the member for Carleton coming through, cutting the GST. It would save young families trying to get into the housing market $250 a month.

In terms of stopping the crime and fixing the budget, I do not have to tell members about fixing the budget. I have talked for 18 minutes about the corruption of the Liberals, who have spent millions and millions of dollars. I could go through their corruption since I got elected in 2015, but we would be here all night. I am only going to talk about the green slush fund, which we know was worth $400 million. The sponsorship scandal was $42 million, and it took down the Chrétien government.

We could not give enough golf tees and golf balls away back then. That was $42 million. This is 10 times the amount. It is no wonder that they do not want to give the RCMP the unredacted documents. That would be historic for the Liberal Party. The green slush fund, as we all know in this country, is corrupt; it needs to be overhauled. It will take a Conservative government to overhaul it because the current government, since it came into power in 2015, has done nothing but destroy the green slush fund, which was SDTC to everybody who used it before 2015.

Kevin Waugh

$540,517.00