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Public Services and Procurement

During Question Period on public services and procurement, the Bloc Québécois’s Sébastien Lemire raised concerns about the Cúram software used to process Old Age Security pensions, saying the government was spending an additional $451 million on pension delivery despite insisting there were no problems, and calling for an independent public inquiry. Minister Patty Hajdu replied that the system modernization is needed to pay benefits reliably, said the government is staying within budget and proceeding with urgency, noted she and officials have testified at committee, and said the benefits wait-list has already dropped by at least 20,000 cases.Written by AI from the debate. Updated .

Official text

4 statements

Sébastien Lemire

Bloc Québécois
“The Liberals claim there are no problems with the pension software. Yet they are spending 451 million dollars to fix pension delivery. If nothing is broken, why are they spending this money?”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, for months now, the Liberals have been insisting that there are no issues with Cúram. They keep saying that it is not true that pensioners are having trouble receiving their OAS. They are saying that it is not true that there are cost overruns and, above all, that there is no need for an inquiry or to hand over documents. In a dramatic turn of events, the government announced in the economic update that it is giving $451 million to Cúram and the Canada Revenue Agency to “ensure seniors receive their benefits accurately and on time”. If there are no issues with Cúram, what is this money for?

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Patty Hajdu

Liberal
“Canadians expect their government to pay their benefits reliably. We are updating the payment system to protect those benefits. The opposition would rather keep using an old system that was breaking down.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, Canadians expect their government to pay them their benefits reliably. The modernization of the system is one of the best ways we have to protect the benefits Canadians depend on. The members opposite would rather have Canadians use an outdated system that was breaking down.

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Sébastien Lemire

Bloc Québécois

Linked statement

“The government is spending an extra $451 million to fix software problems with seniors' pensions. They tried to block committee work to hide these extra costs. I want an independent public inquiry into this.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, what do they have to hide? The Liberals have just proven that a public inquiry is absolutely necessary. They know that Cúram is causing problems with the processing of OAS pensions because they are spending an additional $451 million to fix the problem. They know that there have been cost overruns. They have just added to them. In short, they have proven that the two problems are real and that they have been aware of them for years, even when former prime minister Justin Trudeau was in office. However, as recently as Monday, the Liberals were still filibustering at the Standing Committee on Public Accounts to hide information. What do they have to hide? When will they hold an independent public inquiry?

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Patty Hajdu

Liberal
“I have answered questions about this system at committee many times. We are staying within our budget and working quickly to help people faster. The wait-list has already dropped by at least 20,000 cases, and it will keep going down.”

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Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I have been in front of committee at least twice talking about this, and our officials have also appeared at committee to talk about Cúram. We are, as the member opposite knows, within budget, and we are proceeding exactly as the member opposite has urged us to do, which is with urgency, to make sure that people are not on wait-lists and that the most urgent cases are seen. We have seen a decline by at least 20,000 cases on the waiting list, and more are to come.

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