Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling for accountability and financial restitution following the release of Auditor General Karen Hogan’s performance audits.
Speaking with reporters on Parliament Hill Tuesday, Poilievre said the reports highlight systemic failures in project oversight and fiscal management.
The audits identified cost overruns, insufficient oversight, and missed targets across several departments and programs, including the procurement of F-35 fighter jets, the sale of underutilized government-owned properties, and contracts awarded to GC Strategies, the firm responsible for the ArriveCan app.
Hogan’s office reported that the estimated cost of acquiring 88 F-35 fighter jets has increased by 50 per cent, or $9 billion, due in part to delays in infrastructure readiness and personnel recruitment. The report noted gaps in project coordination, risk management, and staffing.
Poilievre said these issues will delay the establishment of two fighter squadrons until 2031, more than three years later than planned, and will require further spending on interim facilities.
“They haven’t recruited enough pilots to fill the gap,” Poilievre said. “Weak project management, risk management and coordination plans remain incomplete and slow.”
He pointed to former national defence minister Anita Anand’s role in the file, stating, “She has been promoted in this government.”
The Auditor General also examined IT contracts awarded to GC Strategies. According to the report, the federal government issued over 100 contracts to the firm through 31 departments, often without verifying deliverables or assessing value for money.
“Actions of the federal government frequently did not demonstrate value for money,” the report stated.
Poilievre criticized the government’s management of the contracts, including the ArriveCan app.
“Forty-six per cent of the contracts examined, there was no evidence that the work was completed, and yet the government paid for it,” he said. “It’d be like if you walked into a restaurant, you were never served a meal, but you paid the bill anyway and added a big tip and sent off the bill to the taxpayer.”
He said contracts were approved and funded despite the lack of verification and accountability. “They paid even when they didn’t see that the job was done,” he said.
Poilievre called on the government to recover funds paid to GC Strategies. “We’re calling on the government to get our money back so taxpayers can be made whole.”
The audits also reviewed the federal government’s management of real property holdings. In 2017, the government identified that nearly half of its buildings and lands were underused or vacant, and committed to releasing them for housing. Today, only 2 percent of those properties have been disposed of for that purpose, and just 309 homes have been built, far short of the 4,000 originally promised.
Poilievre said delays in property sales and redevelopment have contributed to ongoing housing shortages.
“It takes them eight years to sell a property,” he said. “The fact that they’ve missed these targets means that there are countless young people who can’t afford homes, single mothers who pay higher rent, seniors choosing between heating and eating.”
He added that selling off the identified properties could generate $3.9 billion in revenue over the next decade and reduce operational costs.
Poilievre emphasized that several ministers involved in the audited programs have since been promoted.
Asked whether public servants should face consequences for failing to ensure contract compliance, Poilievre said, “Anybody who did that should be fired, but the politicians should be held accountable as well.”
Poilievre also commented on recent discussions surrounding national defence spending. When asked whether he supports a NATO target of spending 5 per cent of GDP on defence, he replied, “I don’t know any of our allies that are spending that sum right now.”
“We want more money for defence. We want to rebuild our armed forces,” he said. “But the other thing we want to focus on is value for money.”
On border security, he reiterated the party’s position in favour of stricter immigration controls and reinforced borders.
“We support a stronger border,” he said. “We want severe limits on population growth to reverse the damage the Liberals did to our system.”