Thank you. I'm glad to be here, and I am honoured to represent the taxpayer at this committee.

I'm going to go through some reports and touch on some things and then talk about the two that I think we should focus on the most.

First and foremost is “Report 3: Current and Future Use of Federal Office Space”. I found some interesting quotes in there. First, “the CMHC's reporting of the number of housing units built lacked clarity. In addition, the initiative did not maximize access to affordable housing for those with the greatest need.”

The Auditor General confirmed what Canadians already know: The government is failing on housing. Nearly half of the units promised through CMHC programs won't be ready on time. The so-called affordable housing doesn't even target the lowest-income families, who are struggling, and that is a big concern, so I would put forth that we look at Report 3 specifically.

The second one I'd like to touch on, and I'll go through them, is “Report 4: Professional Service Contracts with GCStrategies Inc.” Specifically, here the value for money did not meet the Auditor General's standards. Security requirements were not enforced. The study states that federal organizations were not able to show that all contract resources had the appropriate security clearance prior to the contract being given. “In 46% of contracts examined”—almost half—the study found that “federal organizations had little to no evidence to support that deliverables were received. Despite this, federal government officials consistently authorized payments.”

We have to look at Report 4, and we have to tackle three things: value for dollars, security issues and payment without proof of work being completed. I would like to put forth that we take a closer look at Report 4.

Those will be my two main suggestions.

Some other interesting things I found in the other reports include a report on the COVID-19 pandemic's CEBA, the Canada Emergency Business Account. First, we have $8.5 million remaining in loans to collect, and in this report, there is clearly no plan for how they are collecting on these defaulted loans, and collecting on loans could last until 2032. Over half of these ineligible loans have still not been paid off, and that's a very big concern to me and, I think, the Canadian taxpayer. As a result, now we have $3.5 billion in COVID-19 business loans that were given to ineligible recipients. That is very concerning. In this report, it's clear that the government likes to move fast with no control and no plan.

In “Report 7: Combatting Cybercrime”, I found that the CRTC received about 75,000 reports of cybercrime-linked incidents and only investigated six. This is extremely concerning, because the government is failing to protect Canadians.

Something that hits home to me is I have an 84-year-old father, and these exact crimes target seniors, and they could be the most affected. I found that very concerning.

Next is “Report 8: The Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program”. “A 2024 report by Dunsky Energy + Climate Advisors identified the need for approximately 240,000 public charging ports by 2030. The current ZEVIP target is to support 78,500 public and private chargers by 2029.” That's only 33% of what we would need to support the government's EV mandate.

I'd like to touch on “Report 2: Delivering Canada's Future Fighter Jet Capability”. This audit shows that we're more than three years behind on the infrastructure, and six years later we still have a shortage of pilots. Simply put, at the end of the day, we will have planes with no pilots and no runways.

In “Report 11—Programs To Assist Seniors”, StatsCan says that the population of seniors could almost double over the next two decades. The audit found that the government programs were out of touch on the wants and needs of seniors. They also couldn't determine if the programs were effective or show how many seniors benefited.

I will spend my time on this committee to represent the taxpayer. That's my job. To reiterate, I'd like to focus on reports 3 and 4.

Ned Kuruc

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