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Adjournment Proceedings

2026-05-05 Sitting 117 Showing 1–2 of 2

In a debate, the Conservatives criticized the Liberal government's handling of an IT project for seniors' benefits, which went over-budget and caused delays. The Liberals acknowledged some issues but claimed they were addressing them. Much of the discussion involved partisan arguing rather than concrete solutions.

Official Hansard ↗

Kelly Block

Conservative 6:45 p.m.

“The government's IT projects keep going over budget and getting delayed. I want an independent inquiry to find out why these projects cost way more than planned, and why consultants are getting paid but nobody is held accountable. The Phoenix payroll system, the ArriveCAN app, and now the Cúram software for old age security payments are all massive cost overruns. Seniors are having trouble getting their benefits. The Liberals deny any problem and accuse us of playing politics when we ask questions. I want the minister to explain why these projects always cost way more, and why seniors have to pay for the Liberals' screw-ups.”

Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government's Cúram software platform has become the newest IT project to make the list of over-budget, chronically delayed programs it delivers to Canadians. The program was launched in 2017, just two years after the Liberals took office. The Auditor General found that, by 2022, the program had run into delays and into cost overruns that increased by 43% before a single benefit had been processed by the system. Reports from Le Journal de Montréal estimate that the once $1.75‑billion IT project meant to modernize old age security payments will cost up to $6.6 billion. I wish I could say that this project was the first of its kind. Unfortunately it is the latest in the long list of Liberal-managed IT projects where costs ballooned, and connected consultants got paid. Members of the House voted to launch an independent inquiry into these projects, such as Phoenix, the arrive scam scandal and now Cúram, to find out how the same pattern of delay is followed by cost overruns and by a big bill for taxpayers to pay, while the people overseeing the projects are not held accountable, and why the middlemen involved walk away, getting paid every time. During the arrive scam scandal, connected consultants working out of a basement apartment took millions of dollars without performing any work. They engineered a bid to build the ArriveCAN app, and they contracted out all the work to others while pocketing the difference. The project was originally projected to cost just $80,000 but ended up costing $64.5 million. The connected insiders kept millions of dollars, and Canadians were left footing the bill for an app that the Auditor General found did not provide value for money. Cúram may not simply cost upwards of $6 billion. Reports from March indicate that tens of thousands of seniors were having issues with their benefits, and delays had reached up to 85,000 people. Members of the Liberal government stood up in the House, after taking questions, and first denied anything was wrong, but then they told members to reach out personally and to not make the issue political. Since when has question period, a time when opposition members ensure accountability by asking questions of the government, become a time when the Liberals continually demonstrate arrogance by suggesting that by pointing out that the Liberals failed to deliver the Cúram program on time or on budget, or that nearly 85,000 seniors could not access their benefits, political opponents are playing politics? That attitude is beneath members of this place. I will ask the minister the question again: Why do Liberal programs always massively exceed their projected costs, and why are seniors forced to pay the price for the Liberals' incompetence?

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Kelly Block

Conservative 6:55 p.m.

“That's bad. I don't like that. I think its very bad. It cost too much. It didn't help people. Liberals are to blame. They always find someone else to blame. Liberals spend too much. Consultants get paid. Canadians pay the bill.”

Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General did find we needed a new system. That much is true. However, she did not advise the Liberals to manage the program so poorly that 85,000 seniors could not get their benefits in a timely way. The Auditor General certainly did not tell the Liberals to manage the program so poorly that it cost an extra $5 billion. The Liberals want to pretend these failures of Cúram are not their fault. Cúram is yet another example of how Liberal overspending and underdelivering affects everyday Canadians. There is always someone else at fault, and no one is held to account. The pattern is clear, and Canadians see it. Under the Liberals, connected, costly consultants get paid while projects fall further and further behind, running over budget by the billions, and Canadians are left paying the bill.

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