Discussion · Government Orders
Jeff Kibble Conservative
“I support this motion. The government took a tax agency security contract away from the Commissionaires, who hire Canadian veterans, and gave it to an American-owned company. The government should give that contract back to the Commissionaires, make sure they get first choice on federal security jobs again, let military chaplains pray at public ceremonies, and stop fighting veterans in court.”
“Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of our motion on federal procurement. I rise to speak about our flag and the Canadians who fought under it. I rise for the veterans of Cowichan—Malahat—Langford on Vancouver Island. I rise for the commissionaires who stand watch at our federal buildings. I rise for all the families who have been handed a folded flag. I served under that flag for 28 years. I have conducted many burials at sea, and I have handed that flag to grieving families, including a father and his two sons. I know the cost those who serve under that flag pay. The motion before us may be about one contract, but veterans will tell us it is about much more than just one contract. It is about a pattern of betrayal. We can consider that just this year, with respect to Bill C-11, the government waited until the last minute to reverse amendments agreed upon in committee and ignored the survivors of military sexual trauma. They told me it felt like the government had spat in their faces. We can consider new restrictions on military clergy of every faith, even on Remembrance Day; or veterans poisoned by mefloquine in Somalia, fighting their own government in court for over 25 years; or veterans who asked for help and were instead offered euthanasia by Veterans Affairs Canada. Now let us consider the Commissionaires. I will remind the Liberal members opposite, who seem to have forgotten, who the commissionaires are. In 1915, in the middle of the First World War, the governor-general proposed a corps to give returning soldiers meaningful work. In 1925, the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires was founded with one commitment. Those who served Canada would come home and not be forgotten. For more than 100 years, that commitment had been kept. For generations, Ottawa stood behind it with a right of first refusal. Before a federal government department’s security contract was opened to bidding, it was first offered to the Commissionaires, yet in February, with a single stroke of a pen, the Minister of Veterans Affairs ended that right. Though veterans affairs officials said the department wanted to reassess the right of first refusal, it simply cancelled it. Then came this contract. The CRA posted it as open only to Canadian suppliers. Here is what most Canadians do not know. Under the current government’s new buy Canadian rules, a supplier needs only a place of business in Canada. No one asks who owns the company or where its headquarters are. That is how the Canadian subsidiary of Allied Universal, an American company, qualified. By the company’s own numbers, just 1.3% of its 700,000-strong workforce is in Canada. It won the CRA contract by undercutting the Commissionaires by less than 1% of the contract value, or only $80,000. Now let us hold the government to its own words. Again and again, the Prime Minister has promised that Canada would become our own best customer. He said, “we will select Canadian suppliers by default.” In January, he told Canadians yet again, “We’ll buy Canadian. We’ll build Canadian.” Well, the CRA had a Canadian supplier, a not-for-profit built for veterans, and when the moment came to be our own best customer, the government went shopping in America. The Secretary of State for the Canada Revenue Agency says politicians are never involved in the CRA’s decisions, and that is true of the contract scoring but not true of the rules. The CRA runs the competition, but the government writes the rules for the CRA to follow, and the government chose a buy Canadian policy with no test of ownership. Those were not the CRA’s choices. They were the government’s choices. Last November, the Prime Minister declared that Canadians must honour our veterans’ patriotism with our own, and for once, I agree with his words, but his actions ring hollow. Patriotism is not a line in a statement. In this case, it is a choice in that contract. The government also defends this decision by claiming the Commissionaires could no longer meet its veteran hiring target. Here is what the government will not tell us. The Commissionaires knew the target was a problem. The organization raised it itself. It asked veterans affairs to reassess the target and to update it. Instead, the door was closed. The Commissionaires, which is a not-for-profit, reportedly could not get a meeting with the minister. Meanwhile, senior officials found time to quietly meet with for-profit competitors. Lobbying records prove this. Allied Universal has had a registered lobbyist working the Canadian government since at least 2023, pursuing federal security contracts exactly like this one, yet only three years ago, the department’s own briefing said that the right of first refusal was still aligned with the Government of Canada’s priorities. What changed? It is not the veterans but the government. The government called it a competitive procurement process, but this is not competition. This is a retreat. Here is the kicker. Allied Universal’s Canadian subsidiary is suing the Government of Canada for $420 million. It lost a federal airport screening contract and took the government to court. Let us consider what the Liberals have done. In a courtroom, Allied is fighting the government. Meanwhile, in an office, the government is handing an American company a contract taken from our commissionaires, who should be protected by the right of refusal that is not set to expire until next year. Let us look at Allied Universal’s work with the Trump administration. According to public reporting, it has received more than $290 million U.S. from the Department of Homeland Security this year alone, and its subsidiary received $83 million U.S. from ICE, the agency running the Trump deportation program. This summer, Newsweek named Allied Universal one of America’s most patriotic companies, and I do not doubt that it is. It is an American company, and it should be proud of that honour. However, I would ask the members opposite this: Since when is it the Canadian government’s job to reward America’s most patriotic companies? Canada already has its own patriotic organization, and has had for more than 100 years, called the Commissionaires. Eighteen months ago, the Prime Minister asked Canadians to trust him to stand up to Washington, and many Canadians gave him their trust and their vote for the first time in their life. They believed he was the only one who could handle the president and get a deal. They did not vote to send the veterans contract to a company tied to an American deportation program. Every Canadian who trusted the Liberal slogans should know this: They did not misplace their patriotism. The government misplaced their trust. At election time, the Liberals wrapped themselves in the flag, but at contract time, they pay Americans. At election time, they stand at the cenotaph, but at contract time, they leave the commissionaires standing at the door. At election time, the government promises to put Canada first, but at contract time, it puts Canada second. I can assure the members opposite that veterans from Vancouver Island to Newfoundland are watching the government closely. It is not enough to expose the illusion, so let me set out plainly how a government that keeps its word to veterans would restore that promise. First, it would give the CRA contract back to the commissionaires. Second, it would have Veterans Affairs restore the right of first refusal and update the promise made generations ago to reflect the veterans of today. According to court filings in 2025, the department’s own deputy minister suggested renewing that policy with new measures strengthening our commissionaires, not cutting them down. Third, it would lift the restrictions on clergy, the priests, imams, rabbis and other faith leaders, who serve in uniform, so they may pray in their own faith at public ceremonies, Remembrance Day included. Fourth, it would stop fighting veterans in court, sit down with them, hear them and come to an agreement. Let us end where we began, with the flag I handed to the father and his sons. Veterans define what it means to be Canadian. They come from every province and territory and every faith background and walk of life. From Vimy to Juno Beach to Kandahar, our veterans raised their hand and swore to our flag. They never asked what the flag would give them. They asked what it needed. I am proud to have served. I am proud to be Canadian. I say to the government and to every member opposite plainly, be Canadian. Be Canadian when the cameras are gone and the contract is signed. Be Canadian in the courtroom, at the cenotaph and at the chapel. Be Canadian for veterans who put Canada first. Keep your promises, honour your own words, and if you cannot be Canadian, then for the love of this country, step aside for those who will. Our flag is not a costume for election time. It is a sacred promise. Our soldiers fought and died for it, and our veterans kept that promise. It is time the government did the same.”
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of our motion on federal procurement. I rise to speak about our flag and the Canadians who fought under it. I rise for the veterans of Cowichan—Malahat—Langford on Vancouver Island. I rise for the commissionaires who stand watch at our federal buildings. I rise for all the families who have been handed a folded flag. I served under that flag for 28 years. I have conducted many burials at sea, and I have handed that flag to grieving families, including a father and his two sons. I know the cost those who serve under that flag pay. The motion before us may be about one contract, but veterans will tell us it is about much more than just one contract. It is about a pattern of betrayal. We can consider that just this year, with respect to Bill C-11, the government waited until the last minute to reverse amendments agreed upon in committee and ignored the survivors of military sexual trauma. They told me it felt like the government had spat in their faces. We can consider new restrictions on military clergy of every faith, even on Remembrance Day; or veterans poisoned by mefloquine in Somalia, fighting their own government in court for over 25 years; or veterans who asked for help and were instead offered euthanasia by Veterans Affairs Canada. Now let us consider the Commissionaires. I will remind the Liberal members opposite, who seem to have forgotten, who the commissionaires are. In 1915, in the middle of the First World War, the governor-general proposed a corps to give returning soldiers meaningful work. In 1925, the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires was founded with one commitment. Those who served Canada would come home and not be forgotten. For more than 100 years, that commitment had been kept. For generations, Ottawa stood behind it with a right of first refusal. Before a federal government department’s security contract was opened to bidding, it was first offered to the Commissionaires, yet in February, with a single stroke of a pen, the Minister of Veterans Affairs ended that right. Though veterans affairs officials said the department wanted to reassess the right of first refusal, it simply cancelled it. Then came this contract. The CRA posted it as open only to Canadian suppliers. Here is what most Canadians do not know. Under the current government’s new buy Canadian rules, a supplier needs only a place of business in Canada. No one asks who owns the company or where its headquarters are. That is how the Canadian subsidiary of Allied Universal, an American company, qualified. By the company’s own numbers, just 1.3% of its 700,000-strong workforce is in Canada. It won the CRA contract by undercutting the Commissionaires by less than 1% of the contract value, or only $80,000. Now let us hold the government to its own words. Again and again, the Prime Minister has promised that Canada would become our own best customer. He said, “we will select Canadian suppliers by default.” In January, he told Canadians yet again, “We’ll buy Canadian. We’ll build Canadian.” Well, the CRA had a Canadian supplier, a not-for-profit built for veterans, and when the moment came to be our own best customer, the government went shopping in America. The Secretary of State for the Canada Revenue Agency says politicians are never involved in the CRA’s decisions, and that is true of the contract scoring but not true of the rules. The CRA runs the competition, but the government writes the rules for the CRA to follow, and the government chose a buy Canadian policy with no test of ownership. Those were not the CRA’s choices. They were the government’s choices. Last November, the Prime Minister declared that Canadians must honour our veterans’ patriotism with our own, and for once, I agree with his words, but his actions ring hollow. Patriotism is not a line in a statement. In this case, it is a choice in that contract. The government also defends this decision by claiming the Commissionaires could no longer meet its veteran hiring target. Here is what the government will not tell us. The Commissionaires knew the target was a problem. The organization raised it itself. It asked veterans affairs to reassess the target and to update it. Instead, the door was closed. The Commissionaires, which is a not-for-profit, reportedly could not get a meeting with the minister. Meanwhile, senior officials found time to quietly meet with for-profit competitors. Lobbying records prove this. Allied Universal has had a registered lobbyist working the Canadian government since at least 2023, pursuing federal security contracts exactly like this one, yet only three years ago, the department’s own briefing said that the right of first refusal was still aligned with the Government of Canada’s priorities. What changed? It is not the veterans but the government. The government called it a competitive procurement process, but this is not competition. This is a retreat. Here is the kicker. Allied Universal’s Canadian subsidiary is suing the Government of Canada for $420 million. It lost a federal airport screening contract and took the government to court. Let us consider what the Liberals have done. In a courtroom, Allied is fighting the government. Meanwhile, in an office, the government is handing an American company a contract taken from our commissionaires, who should be protected by the right of refusal that is not set to expire until next year. Let us look at Allied Universal’s work with the Trump administration. According to public reporting, it has received more than $290 million U.S. from the Department of Homeland Security this year alone, and its subsidiary received $83 million U.S. from ICE, the agency running the Trump deportation program. This summer, Newsweek named Allied Universal one of America’s most patriotic companies, and I do not doubt that it is. It is an American company, and it should be proud of that honour. However, I would ask the members opposite this: Since when is it the Canadian government’s job to reward America’s most patriotic companies? Canada already has its own patriotic organization, and has had for more than 100 years, called the Commissionaires. Eighteen months ago, the Prime Minister asked Canadians to trust him to stand up to Washington, and many Canadians gave him their trust and their vote for the first time in their life. They believed he was the only one who could handle the president and get a deal. They did not vote to send the veterans contract to a company tied to an American deportation program. Every Canadian who trusted the Liberal slogans should know this: They did not misplace their patriotism. The government misplaced their trust. At election time, the Liberals wrapped themselves in the flag, but at contract time, they pay Americans. At election time, they stand at the cenotaph, but at contract time, they leave the commissionaires standing at the door. At election time, the government promises to put Canada first, but at contract time, it puts Canada second. I can assure the members opposite that veterans from Vancouver Island to Newfoundland are watching the government closely. It is not enough to expose the illusion, so let me set out plainly how a government that keeps its word to veterans would restore that promise. First, it would give the CRA contract back to the commissionaires. Second, it would have Veterans Affairs restore the right of first refusal and update the promise made generations ago to reflect the veterans of today. According to court filings in 2025, the department’s own deputy minister suggested renewing that policy with new measures strengthening our commissionaires, not cutting them down. Third, it would lift the restrictions on clergy, the priests, imams, rabbis and other faith leaders, who serve in uniform, so they may pray in their own faith at public ceremonies, Remembrance Day included. Fourth, it would stop fighting veterans in court, sit down with them, hear them and come to an agreement. Let us end where we began, with the flag I handed to the father and his sons. Veterans define what it means to be Canadian. They come from every province and territory and every faith background and walk of life. From Vimy to Juno Beach to Kandahar, our veterans raised their hand and swore to our flag. They never asked what the flag would give them. They asked what it needed. I am proud to have served. I am proud to be Canadian. I say to the government and to every member opposite plainly, be Canadian. Be Canadian when the cameras are gone and the contract is signed. Be Canadian in the courtroom, at the cenotaph and at the chapel. Be Canadian for veterans who put Canada first. Keep your promises, honour your own words, and if you cannot be Canadian, then for the love of this country, step aside for those who will. Our flag is not a costume for election time. It is a sacred promise. Our soldiers fought and died for it, and our veterans kept that promise. It is time the government did the same.