Latest Interventions - Jeremy Patzer

Jeremy Patzer - Hansard 134

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 21:12:23 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, the common theme we see with the Liberals is that they go easy on criminals, and then all of a sudden they introduce all these new laws that try to make up for their own undoing of previous laws that were in place and would have helped deal with a lot of this.

There are other chronic issues that are at play here. Six out of 10 provinces have requested more judges appointed to the King's bench. There is a shortage, particularly in my province of Saskatchewan, which led to this individual with 17.5 pounds of fentanyl having their charges stayed. The Liberals made a commitment in the last election to hire 1,000 more police officers. We have yet to see them follow up on that at all. I do not think any new officers have been hired, let alone dealing with the people who are retiring. The borders continue to be a sore spot for drugs coming in. Basically zero containers are scanned coming into Canada, so all kinds of drugs and who knows what else are pouring into our country, and it is putting our citizens at risk and in danger. How else do we end up with 17.5 pounds of fentanyl getting on the streets down Highway 1?

Jeremy Patzer - Hansard 134

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 21:06:21 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, when I rose in the House previously in question period, I asked the Minister of Public Safety about charges being stayed against two fentanyl traffickers who were arrested and in court in Swift Current. Police found 17.5 pounds of fentanyl in their car, and their charges were stayed. That 17.5 pounds of fentanyl is just under four million doses. Effectively, 17.5 pounds of fentanyl could kill close to four million people. That is enough fentanyl to kill just about all of the people in Alberta and Saskatchewan combined in one traffic stop. The individuals' charges were stayed, they were released on bail and now they are out in the general public. This is getting ridiculous. It is getting out of hand.

Let us look at the tone the government has set over the years with its soft-on-crime approach. Let us look at Bill C-75. The “earliest reasonable opportunity and on the least onerous conditions” is the main theme of what Bill C-75 has meant for people like drug traffickers.

Let us take a look at a few other cases in and around Saskatchewan. On April 8, another individual was found with 51 grams of fentanyl. It is not nearly as much as 17.5 pounds, but it is deadly, nonetheless. On April 16, another person was found with 282 grams of fentanyl and 556 grams of cocaine. On May 15, 227 grams of methamphetamine was found on an individual. These are deadly amounts of drugs that people have in their possession, and these people are generally released out into the public.

Just yesterday, here in Ontario, an individual who was out on bail was arrested with 30 grams of cocaine and 22 grams of fentanyl, which has a street value of about $5,200. This person was out on bail for a previous drug possession and trafficking charge for a street value of $125,000. This is getting insane. These are the kinds of things that people are seeing on the streets.

Canadians are getting sick and tired of seeing people who have large amounts of fentanyl, which is a deadly drug that can kill tons of people. We have all seen the headlines. People are getting so sick and tired of this. Fentanyl is getting into our high schools and many places where it should never be. We are seeing people overdosing in parks and public spaces. The drug epidemic is getting out of hand, and people are getting so sick and tired of it.

When on earth is the government going to actually do something to make sure that people trafficking 17.5 pounds of fentanyl will not be allowed back out on the streets?

Jeremy Patzer - Hansard 133

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 20:09:19 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

House of Commons

Madam Speaker, again, we are seeing so many different types of crimes becoming more and more prominent in our communities and on our streets. One that I referenced in my speech, for example, is extortion with a firearm. This is the kind of thing that a person can serve house arrest for, and the mandatory minimum can be circumvented because of this bill and clause 63.

People who are terrorizing our streets should not be allowed to serve house arrest. They should not be given lenient sentences. A mandatory minimum with a high threshold would make sure that those people, and their victims, get justice.

Jeremy Patzer - Hansard 133

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 20:07:29 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

House of Commons

Madam Speaker, I will start by saying that in my speech, I referenced the fact that there were 23 men in Quebec who were in possession of over four million files of child sexual assault and exploitation material. One of the reasons Bill C‑16 is here is that the Supreme Court struck down the mandatory minimum for the possession and distribution of this type of material. If the Liberals were serious about restoring mandatory minimums, they would have restored that mandatory minimum to make sure that our children are protected. The last thing I want to see is those 23 men in Quebec being put back out on the street next week so that they can continue to create, distribute and monetize child sexual abuse and exploitation material.

I do not want to see those kinds of people on the streets ever again. They belong in jail.

Jeremy Patzer - Hansard 133

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 20:05:25 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

House of Commons

Madam Speaker, the member says all kinds of ridiculous things. Referring to yesterday and the language the Speaker let him use, that was a dumb question from the member. The Speaker allowed him to use that word, so I am going to use it.

That was a dumb question, and this is why. If the Liberals actually truly cared about crime and if they truly cared about victims, they would not allow people to have mandatory minimums be circumvented by clause 63. That should not have been allowed to happen. At the very least, the member should have said he supported some of the safeguards we are proposing to make sure that victims would be respected and that criminals would go to jail, but that did not happen. The Liberals voted them down.

Jeremy Patzer - Hansard 133

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 19:54:44 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

House of Commons

Madam Speaker, it is always a privilege to be able to rise on behalf of the great people of southwest and west central Saskatchewan, and to be able to do so here in the month of June.

We know June is the graduation season for all of the kids in elementary school who are moving up to high school. The kids who are in high school and have the whole world in front of them are graduating and looking to either start their first job or go on to university, or whatever the next step of their life is. June is an exciting time for them. There are a lot of exciting things happening in their lives.

We also know that generation of people is, for many of us here in the House of Commons, why we are here and why we do what we do. I think this is also very relevant when we talk about Bill C-16, the victims bill.

I want to start with a couple of things. There is a bit of a scourge happening in society. There are many people who are victims of sexual assault and violence. It is getting out of hand. I am sure that my colleague from Mégantic—L'Érable—Lotbinière, whom I am going to split my time with, is going to be able to elaborate on that a bit more. I look forward to hearing what he has to say.

Saskatchewan, in particular, has some of the highest rates of domestic violence in the country per capita, for example. We know this is a scourge on society, so I applaud the government's attempts to try to take a few steps and measures that would rein some of this in and get things under control.

However, at the same time, we see with this bill that the government has put forward a measure around the inclusion of clause 63, which would essentially allow mandatory minimums to be ignored. I find that to be very egregious. Here is why.

I am going to read these out. I have to google them really quickly. I typed in “man caught with child sexual exploitation and assault material” and a plethora of headlines come up. Here is one from today. This one is from 47 minutes ago. It reads, “Man Arrested in Sexual Assault Investigation”. This one is from six hours ago. It reads, “Niagara Falls man accused of breaching order to stay away from children”. This one reads, “Markham Man Arrested for Using Social Media to Sexually Lure and Extort Youth”. That is from five hours ago. This one is from one day ago. It reads, “Male Arrested Following Child Luring and Sexual Exploitation Investigation in Whitby”. It goes on and on and on.

An Alberta man, for example, was recently caught with over 500,000 images of child sexual abuse and exploitation material. In Quebec, 23 men had over four million files of sexual exploitation and abuse material of children. This is disgusting. It is ridiculous.

The fact is that there is now a provision that would allow somebody to escape a mandatory minimum. Let me be clear. Part of the reason why the bill came forward is that the Supreme Court struck down a mandatory minimum for child sexual abuse and exploitation material. It is absolutely disgusting that this happened as well.

When we see in the news the number of files that are out there and just how many people continue to access them, and when we see that there is the ability for a soft-on-crime approach to be taken because of this clause, it is just absolutely disgusting. If we want to try to signal to people that we actually care about victims and that we are going to prioritize the needs of victims, taking some of these very heinous crimes seriously, establishing a floor and making sure that nobody, under any circumstance, will serve below that minimum would be acceptable.

In the court case that was referenced with the bill, a hypothetical case was presented. That is why the mandatory minimum I am referring to was struck down. It was completely made up. It was not a story based on any evidence. It was not even the case that should have been referenced, which was very different from what was used to determine why they should strike down the mandatory minimum.

If we are going to take things seriously in this country, we need to value our citizens. We need to value people who have been victimized. Allowing people to get off easy is not how we are going to deal with this.

There are many other examples of this. I pulled up examples of people who were let off. Here is another one. It reads, “Calgary man who sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl gets reduced sentence”. I am sick and tired of seeing headlines like that. Canadians are sick and tired of seeing headlines like that. We do not want to see them anymore.

Establishing mandatory minimums and having them in place shows that we take these kinds of crimes very seriously. The prosecution and the judges have discretion and can use leniency. They can increase a sentence if they want to, or they can go with the minimum, but establishing those minimum sentences shows that we take these things very seriously.

There are many other charges that people can get away with very easily, and I am going to highlight a few more. For example, another one says a scam victim says Canadian sentences are a joke after a fraudster got house arrest. That is another one of these issues. Seniors are being victimized over and over again. In fact, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre says between 17,000 or even 20,000 direct fraud and financial abuse reports come in regularly in Canada. Also, 7.8% of the Canadian population aged 15 and over has experienced fraud in some shape or form. We know seniors are targeted. I think it comes to about $137 million annually. Seniors are being victimized when it comes to fraud. This is the kind of thing for which a person is able to get only house arrest.

In the case that I referenced, this person was sentenced to only 18 months of house arrest, but there were exceptions. They were allowed to leave the house multiple times a week to go to the gym and, after six months, the conditions required them to be home only between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. If someone who is actively defrauding people is given house arrest, that means they can continue to carry out the very crimes they were committing in the comfort of their own home. Those kinds of people should be in jail. They are preying on the people who are the most vulnerable.

Going back to seniors, my wife's grandpa was a victim of fraud. He sincerely thought somebody in tech support was helping him out, but they were not. He was defrauded out of thousands of dollars. He was targeted because he is a senior, and seniors generally tend to be far more trusting and tend to believe something like that, as in that particular case. Fortunately, he was able to eventually get his money back, but this happens over and over again. When these people are caught, they are given house arrest.

These are the kinds of things we are seeing, and we do not want to see them happening any longer.

Let me take another look at some of the other areas where mandatory minimums would be allowed to be circumvented. There is aggravated sexual assault with a gun. It is bad enough that people accessing, selling, recording and making child sexual abuse and exploitation material would be able to avoid a mandatory minimum. Aggravated sexual assault with a gun, human trafficking, multiple violent firearms offences, extortion with a firearm, weapons trafficking and drive-by shootings are the kinds of things for which mandatory minimums would be looked over and discarded because of clause 63.

If we are going to have a serious discussion about dealing with the issue of crime and the fact that so many people end up with bail instead of jail, establishing and re-establishing some basic mandatory minimums in this bill would have been great. Not including a clause that would allow mandatory minimums to be completely disregarded would have been great as well. That shows we are not taking victims' concerns seriously.

I get lots of emails to my constituency office and my Hill office from people wanting a tough-on-crime approach. People want to see mandatory minimums become a thing because they set the tone. They let the criminals know we take these crimes seriously and there will be a punishment if they are caught. When they find out they can get just house arrest or a reduced sentence, they are going to keep doing what they are doing.

There was a case in my home community at the local courthouse, where a person's charges were stayed for fentanyl trafficking. They had enough fentanyl in their possession to kill hundreds and thousands of people. Their charges were stayed and they were released. This is ridiculous. This is the kind of stuff people are sick and tired of seeing. They do not want clause 63, which would allow mandatory minimums to be skirted, to be included.

There are some good pieces in this bill that I wish the Liberals were serious about. I wish they would deal with the good parts of the bill. If they had accepted our amendments to put even some safeguards around clause 63, it would have been helpful, but they voted against every single measure proposed by the Conservatives at committee to protect victims, which is shameful.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 42

Thu, 28 May 2026 12:04:52 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates On division I would think is fine, because we know the result.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 42

Thu, 28 May 2026 11:50:25 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Right.

I want to change topics quickly for the last couple of seconds to your report on the FIFA World Cup. You said that there's an estimated $128 million classified as capital expenditures. Should the rest of the funding for the FIFA World Cup, which is $473 million dollars, be considered operational spending? How is that going to be classified?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 42

Thu, 28 May 2026 11:47:44 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

When you look at household debt, so non-mortgage debt, for example, it has reached $43,300 in the first quarter, up from $40,200 two years ago. Some of these numbers are pretty alarming and pretty staggering, when you look at how Canadians are paying for things beyond their mortgage.

Another example is that, among homeowners, average non-mortgage debt reached $82,000, up 19% compared to two years ago. Those are alarming numbers. I know there are some pressures such the cost of a vehicle, for example, which is at an all-time high, but Canadians are using debt services at a higher and higher rate.

Again, for all the grand talk about how Canadians have never had it so good, as we're hearing from the government, the data shows a completely different story. This is why I brought up the point about the federal market debt coming up for renewal from 1% to 3%. Canadians are seeing, for example, their mortgage rates go up and increasing. When you look at mortgage renewals, a substantial number of mortgages are up for renewal over the next year or two, and they will be coming in at much higher costs.

When you're looking forward, as you said you want to do, and you're seeing the state of the cost of servicing debt at the government's level but also at the consumer level, how concerning is that projection for the average Canadian, when that's what they're faced with?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 42

Thu, 28 May 2026 11:46:02 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I want to note that Finance Canada said that it takes the IMF report that's been mentioned numerous times this meeting “with a grain of salt”.

When you look at a lot of the numbers over the past decade.... For example, over $1 trillion of foreign direct investment has left Canada, which means that for every dollar of investment in Canada, two dollars left. I think that when they look at that kind of a track record, that's why they're looking at that IMF report and saying that it's not quite so rosy.

That's having a substantive impact on Canadians, too. We're looking at some of the insolvency numbers. There's a higher rate of Canadians facing insolvency than there has been since 2009.

Are you seeing some of those trends and concerns in any of the work you're doing?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 42

Thu, 28 May 2026 11:09:28 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Yes. Thank you.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 42

Thu, 28 May 2026 11:08:02 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

The jump, though, from 1% to 3% is going to have a marked impact on any fiscal anchor that the government is going to rely on.

When you look at some of the creative accounting practices, such as changing the definitions of capital and operating expenditures, there's growing concern around the implications they're going to have going forward, because there's still not a lot of clarity around some of those definitions. What impact is this ballooning cost going to have, even if we go with the government's creative accounting on these new terms?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 42

Thu, 28 May 2026 11:07:10 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Yes, because it's going up to 13% of government revenue that will be debt charges. Is that correct?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 42

Thu, 28 May 2026 11:06:50 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Briefly, does anyone have another comment?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 42

Thu, 28 May 2026 11:04:43 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

I appreciate that.

I think it's important that when the government has a fairly substantive policy, such as the buy Canadian policy, we need to understand what the cost analysis might be for that if it's moving away from a previous policy, which was low bid.

In your report on the main estimates, you expressed some concern around the debt servicing. There's roughly $523 billion of federal market debt that is coming due by the end of 2027. It's basically at 1%, and current rates are roughly 3%. That's a pretty substantive increase. When you look at the current trajectory of the federal debt and the cost of servicing it—and we're seeing it going from 1% to 3%—what does that look like for taxpayers? What is the implication going to be for the public finances?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 42

Thu, 28 May 2026 11:03:17 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, again, to the PBO and her staff for coming.

We really appreciate the work that you are doing.

I'm just going to start off the top, Ms. Ryan. At the last meeting, PSPC said that it's moving away from low bid because of the buy Canada policy, but it didn't have an estimate on the added cost. Is the added cost for taxpayers something that you can look at?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 41

Tue, 26 May 2026 17:31:09 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates I think the motion said that there would be no fewer than three meetings. There's room for us to add a fourth meeting to make sure we can accommodate the minister's coming, so we can make sure we can get him here.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 41

Tue, 26 May 2026 17:31:04 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Mr. Chair, can I just briefly...?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 41

Tue, 26 May 2026 17:14:31 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Thank you.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 41

Tue, 26 May 2026 17:14:17 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Do they have the specific resources to do it?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 41

Tue, 26 May 2026 17:14:05 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Does every department have extra budget capacity to do these audits?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 41

Tue, 26 May 2026 17:13:34 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates I'm Canadian, and I get the contract. You find out later that I'm not Canadian. That's retroactive.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 41

Tue, 26 May 2026 17:13:27 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Is it all retroactive, then?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 41

Tue, 26 May 2026 17:12:38 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Okay. If that happens, maybe we'll find out.

What enforcement mechanism does Treasury Board have for the buy Canadian policy? We've been hearing a lot about self-reporting. The requirements feel kind of loosey-goosey, so what enforcement metric do you have to make sure that this 25%, or whatever metric is agreed to, isn't abused?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 41

Tue, 26 May 2026 17:12:26 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Does the minister responsible for PSPC have a veto over other ministers if they decide that they don't agree?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 41

Tue, 26 May 2026 17:12:08 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates When you say “subject to the minister”, which minister do you mean?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 41

Tue, 26 May 2026 17:10:35 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

All right.

The Department of Agriculture, in an internal memo, said it would comply only if it did not cost extra time or money and it was in the public interest. Given that you guys are the support, extending the policy to all the various departments, what are your thoughts on how the Department of Agriculture views this? It sounds as if it's optional to them, and they'll do it only if it makes sense.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 41

Tue, 26 May 2026 17:10:03 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Let's say that a province came up with a 50% threshold. Whose threshold supersedes the other, that of the province or of the feds?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 41

Tue, 26 May 2026 17:09:26 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Thank you.

There have been some updates to the policy. You were talking about how you're getting provinces and territories on board with the buy Canadian policy. Has everybody agreed to a 25% Canadian content policy directive? Is that 25% agreed upon among federal, provincial and municipal governments?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 41

Tue, 26 May 2026 17:09:14 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Thank you very much.

At the start of the meeting, you referenced that you have given guidance to the departments. I'm wondering, can you table that guidance with the committee?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 41

Tue, 26 May 2026 16:05:36 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates What assurances do you have to make sure that the code of ethics is followed, that there is not preferential incentive given to well-connected bidders?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 41

Tue, 26 May 2026 16:04:49 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates You talked about how you're going to prioritize and incentivize. Are you going to make the same incentives for every single procurement, or will there be some incentives that are more than others for various things, depending on what it is? Will this be equal across the board? How is that going to roll out?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 41

Tue, 26 May 2026 16:03:55 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

The minister also mentioned, though, supplying “at affordable rates.”

Have you done a cost analysis to understand what impact this will have on the Canadian taxpayer as this policy gets unrolled?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 41

Tue, 26 May 2026 16:03:40 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Does that include the Department of National Defence and the Defence Investment Agency?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 41

Tue, 26 May 2026 16:02:51 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

I'm going to quote from Minister Robertson.

He said:

Across government, it will vary. You know, we're not being rigid about this, because there are many supply chains that we still need to improve across the country to make sure we can supply Canadian materials at affordable rates for the infrastructure and housing that we build.

Man, there are a lot of things I could ask questions about there—for example, “Across government, it will vary”. If the minister is saying that it's going to vary, does this mean some are excluded, some have a higher threshold and some have a lower threshold? What does he mean by “it will vary”?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 41

Tue, 26 May 2026 16:02:00 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Maybe there was some miscommunication from that side when they said that it was lowered to 25%. Minister Robertson did say that they were targeting 30%.

How did you guys come up with a certain percentage? Why is it 25%, not 30% or 75%?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 41

Tue, 26 May 2026 16:01:30 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates It was said, though, that the threshold was lowered to 25% as a requirement.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 41

Tue, 26 May 2026 16:01:17 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Why did you lower it?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 41

Tue, 26 May 2026 16:01:12 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Why is that?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 41

Tue, 26 May 2026 16:00:46 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

You said that the buy Canadian threshold was lowered. What was it before?

Jeremy Patzer - Hansard 122

Tue, 26 May 2026 13:18:10 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, in the Canada Gazette, it was published that the people who would be most disproportionately impacted by the clean fuel regulations are single moms and seniors living on a fixed income. I am wondering if the government is even publishing that these are the people who would be most impacted. Would the member not support removing this tax to make life more affordable for these folks?

Jeremy Patzer - Hansard 122

Tue, 26 May 2026 13:03:05 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, I thank the leader for providing a very common-sense approach to deal with the cost of living crisis.

The Liberals keep saying that one of the reasons they cannot axe this tax is that it will disproportionately benefit the rich, and that the people who have a low income will not benefit nearly as much from axing the taxes we are talking about in this motion today.

I am wondering if the leader could explain to the Liberal Party how axing these taxes would actually benefit low-income earners and do well for them with respect to the cost of living.

Jeremy Patzer - Hansard 122

Tue, 26 May 2026 11:59:45 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, I want to follow up on that question. It is a little absurd for the Liberals to come in here today and say that repealing the clean fuel standard would just benefit the rich and that the people at the bottom of the income scale would benefit the least from it.

I remember not very long ago putting $20 into my gas tank and it used to get me through a week. This is when I was working prior to getting married, when I was dating my wife. Being able to put $20 in my vehicle meant a lot, because it was able to get me a long ways. Now $20 gets us nowhere. Being able to put $20 in their gas tank feels like a luxury for a lot of people right now. For a lot of people, that is a necessity, not a luxury.

Would the member agree that people at the bottom end of the income scale actually stand to benefit the most, because when they only have $20 to put in their gas tank, it will actually get them somewhere?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 39

Tue, 05 May 2026 17:03:38 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Minister, it's my time. I gave you lots of time to respond. Thank you.

This is the spring economic update. It says “Canada Strong” on it. Today, on the Liberal Party website, it says, to donate $10, $25, $100, $250, $500 or other to the Liberal Party of Canada. “Canada Strong” is right here.

Your website, through the Treasury Board, is abundantly clear about what defines partisan messaging. It says that the Government of Canada is supposed to be free of partisan messaging, so why is it not free of partisan messaging?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 39

Tue, 05 May 2026 17:03:33 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Yes, me too.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 39

Tue, 05 May 2026 17:03:28 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Minister, I'm going to stop you right there. It's my time.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 39

Tue, 05 May 2026 17:03:25 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates I'm making this up. Okay.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 39

Tue, 05 May 2026 17:01:30 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Thank you very much. The rules matter, and this is what I'm getting to.

The Liberal Party's website has the words “Canada Strong”, and it is soliciting donations. It was the theme of your convention. It's also the theme of your update. It is also the theme of your budget.

The Treasury Board—and you're the minister—sets out the policy, and the policy, this document about Government of Canada communications, is clear. Right here, in the very bottom corner, it has “Government of Canada”.

It's pretty clear that this is partisan branding. Government of Canada branding, in radio and television ads, uses “Canada Strong”. It's quite clear. Since you're the department that sets the policy, are you following up to make sure that the rules set by the Treasury Board are actually being followed by the Government of Canada?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 39

Tue, 05 May 2026 17:01:25 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Yes, we are. It's not the House of Commons, Mr. Danko.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 39

Tue, 05 May 2026 16:59:52 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

That's okay. I'll get into it, for sure.

The policy took effect on March 27, 2025. It was updated from a policy from 2016, so it was within Liberal governments. The policy is on communications and federal identity. I'm going to go down to section 3.1, and I'm going to quote:

Government of Canada communications are non-partisan, effectively managed, well coordinated, clear and responsive to the diverse information needs of the public and Government of Canada employees....

It goes on to say, in the definition of “non-partisan”, that it means:

objective, factual and explanatory;

free from political party slogans, images and identifiers; bias; designation; or affiliation;

that the primary colour associated with the governing party is not used in a dominant way, unless an item is commonly depicted in that colour....

I'm going to start here, Minister. Budget 2025 has the words “Canada Strong”. The spring economic update has the phrase “Canada Strong”. Today, from the Liberal Party web page, there are the words “Canada Strong”, and from the convention web page, the words “Canada strong”. Also, Liberal Party fundraising—

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 39

Tue, 05 May 2026 16:59:40 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Broadly speaking, are you aware of it?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 39

Tue, 05 May 2026 16:59:26 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Are you aware of the Treasury Board's policy on communications and federal identity?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 39

Tue, 05 May 2026 16:59:16 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Thank you very much.

Minister, can you, really briefly, inform this committee of this: When did you become the minister?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 39

Tue, 05 May 2026 16:14:26 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates I don't think that justifies having Canada Post open people's mail. The police can get a warrant, and they could do so. However, Canadians want to know, if you're going to proceed with this, what's the threshold for that letter to be opened prior to its arriving at somebody's house?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 39

Tue, 05 May 2026 16:13:48 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Okay. There's a process to get a warrant to access that mail, and that process already exists. What is going to be the threshold, then, Minister, for “reasonable suspicion” to open Canadians' mail?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 39

Tue, 05 May 2026 16:12:34 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

I guess we'll watch and see what happens with that.

The spring update wants to bring back search and seizure for small mail. It was included in Bill C-2. That bill did not proceed. Bill C-12 came in its place, but the search and seizure of mail was dropped. The spring update brings it back.

Are you going to see that it happens, or are you going to take the cue from Canadians who said no to that measure and asked for it to be removed? What's the plan ?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 39

Tue, 05 May 2026 16:11:19 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

I would suggest that some of the low-hanging fruit such as that might be a simple way to bring more things within our own border.

Particularly, the optics of having a Crown corporation sending payment through a third party provider from Utah is probably not a good look for the government, when you're trying to go down this buy Canada pathway.

I'm going to switch to another point.

Canada Post has basically told this committee and Canadians that they will not participate in the gun buyback confiscation program of your government. The government is going ahead with this program, despite objections from groups like Canada Post. The government has hinted at using Canada Post as a means to collect firearms from people, but Canada Post has said no.

Are you going to respect Canada Post's decision, or are you going to force Canada Post to go ahead with this program?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 39

Tue, 05 May 2026 16:10:28 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

The payment for the rental space by Canada Post to the town was paid for by a third party provider out of Utah. It paid for rental space for the Crown corporation from the town of Leader.

Is that standard practice?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 39

Tue, 05 May 2026 16:09:43 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

That was a great round of questions from Madame Gaudreau. It was very well done.

I'm going to pick up on a couple of themes that she had, Minister.

When it comes to the buy Canada bit, I had a town and mayor reach out to me because they had received a bill payment for a rental for a Canada Post space from a company operating out of Utah.

I'm wondering if it is standard procedure that you would send bill payments from a contractor out of the United States to pay for a Crown corporation's rental space.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 38

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 12:58:58 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Thank you.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 38

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 12:56:56 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Thank you very much.

I always like to qualify some questions for folks back home.

The national debt right now is $1.298 trillion. On the current trajectory, in two weeks or less it will be $1.3 trillion. The forecast in the economic update shows that the cost to service the debt alone is on a trajectory to approach $80 billion within the next five years. When you contrast that with what we collect in GST, I don't think that's even going to get up to $60 billion in that same time frame.

How concerning to Canadians should that level of debt and the interest payment on the debt be?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 38

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 12:56:11 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

All right.

Have you reviewed the OECD report on Canada's PBO? Do you accept its recommendations, including those about strengthening the selection process?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 38

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 12:55:47 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Are you willing to share who that retired deputy minister was?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 38

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 12:55:03 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Thank you very much.

How did you decide to apply for the role of PBO? Were you approached for the role?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 38

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 12:54:29 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates From any government agency, PCO or anybody at all.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 38

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 12:54:03 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Thank you very much.

I appreciate your coming here today, and I'd like to quickly thank you, Mr. Jacques, for your time as interim PBO.

Ms. Ryan, did you receive any briefings at all prior to your appearance at the finance committee or the Senate?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 38

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:30:18 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Sure. If you could respond back to this committee with that, it would be greatly appreciated. You can follow up with that.

I'm just going to read it one more time for everybody at home. It's section 3.1.1 of the policy on communications and federal identity.

Government of Canada communications are non-partisan, effectively managed, well coordinated, clear and responsive to the diverse information needs of the public and Government of Canada employees

If they're “effectively managed” and supposed to be non-partisan, the fact that this is partisan shows me that there's a coordinated effort. It's “effectively managed” to be partisan. I strongly advise your department, if it's non-partisan, to make sure this does not happen, going forward.

Thank you.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 38

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:29:46 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

That was the point of my question. There has to be somebody.

Is there not a—for lack of a better term—quality control person in PCO to make sure the rules are being upheld?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 38

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:28:43 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Thank you very much.

I can pull up the Liberal website that says, “Canada Strong” right on it. If you look at the budget document, it says, “Canada Strong”. If you look at the Speech from the Throne, it says, “Canada Strong”. There are several TV ads that have run all across this country using the tag line “Canada Strong”.

Again, if PCO is non-partisan.... I understand that you are not directly responsible for communications and marketing, but you have to tell me and this committee—you have to reassure Canadians—that there is somebody in your department making sure partisan language is not being used in government communications. It violates the trust of Canadians, let alone the standards set by the Treasury Board.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 38

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:27:33 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Are we not concerned, though, that somebody is breaking Treasury Board guidance by allowing partisan campaign language to be used in government documents?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 38

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:27:12 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Okay.

If coordination goes through PCO, would somebody have not flagged that you cannot use partisan communications language in Government of Canada documents?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 38

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:26:59 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Are you aware that the Liberal campaign tag line “Canada Strong” has been used in Government of Canada communications?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 38

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:26:43 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

I'm just going to read it quickly.

Government of Canada communications are non-partisan, effectively managed, well coordinated, clear and responsive to the diverse information needs of the public and Government of Canada employees

You mentioned that you are a non-partisan group. Is that correct?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 38

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:26:33 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Are you aware of the Treasury Board guidelines on advertising?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 38

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:26:19 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Okay. Thank you.

I'm going to switch back to PCO really quickly.

You mentioned that you guys deal with a bit of advertising and marketing. Is that correct?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 38

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:26:02 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Some have been on the website ever since pretty much day one and the status hasn't changed. Why is that?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 38

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:25:49 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Why were projects that already had a final business decision and already had approvals referred to your office?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 38

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:25:23 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Do you have a fixed timeline for which your office is supposed to approve projects?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 38

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:25:07 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Are you still hiring employees there?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 38

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:24:53 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Thank you very much.

Ms. Baird, I'm going to spend a quick couple of seconds with you. These are going to be rapid-fire questions. Please forgive me if I seem a bit abrupt.

How many employees do you have at the Major Projects Office?

Jeremy Patzer - Hansard 114

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 16:01:55 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, I just want to make this really simple for the government. They are running a $66‑billion deficit this year. That means there is no extra wealth or surplus to put into a fund to be able to invest in anything. What they are doing is the equivalent of taking a credit card and then using the credit card to buy into, for example, a child's registered education savings plan or something to that effect. It is taking on more debt to put money away.

Could my colleague explain a little further why their terrible finance record is making this impossible to actually work properly?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence AMAD 6

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:20:40 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying

Thank you for that.

We've now sat through about three years' worth of these committees.

What do you want this committee to put in its report so that, two years from now, we're not back at this table asking why more indigenous people with disabilities or mental illness have died because we expanded a system that we knew was broken?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence AMAD 6

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:19:11 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying

We've been hearing from witnesses about the Werther effect and suicide contagion. We have responsible reporting guidelines for media coverage of suicide, which people in the entire field of suicide prevention follow.

What is the contagion risk in indigenous communities, specifically when government legislation says death is a valid medical response to mental illness?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence AMAD 6

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:18:55 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will let my comments stand.

Mr. Belanger, in regard to your comments about the United Nations, has Canada formally responded to the recommendation you were alluding to?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence AMAD 6

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:18:43 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying Yes, you did. You said that the majority of witnesses of this committee were lying in regard to suicidality—

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence AMAD 6

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:18:29 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying

Thank you very much.

Before I begin, Mr. Chair, I want to highlight that I think it's completely inappropriate for Senator Wells to call people he disagrees with liars at this committee, when we have had—

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence AMAD 5

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 19:20:46 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying

Thank you for that.

Finally, you said you had good mental health care, financial means, social support and professional knowledge, yet you still felt at risk. If someone with those supports could feel unsafe under our current system, what does that mean for Canadians who are poor, isolated, living in rural and remote communities, disabled or unable to access specialized care or the first, second and third lines of treatment you referred to?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence AMAD 5

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 19:19:58 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying You said that if MAID for mental health had been available during your period of severe illness, you believe you may not be here today. In your view, what does that say about the danger of treating as irremediable the desire to die of a person who has a mental illness?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence AMAD 5

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 19:19:03 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying

Thank you very much.

Ms. McKinnon, as a mental health professional, a person with lived experience and an internationally recognized expert in traumatic stress, can you distinguish between suicidality and the desire to die?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 37

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 12:51:07 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Building on some other things we have heard today, we know there have been lots of announcements about big money being put into defence. One article I read had it upwards of half a trillion dollars.

How fast and how readily is the Defence Investment Agency, through you, able to get that money and spend that money, and what controls do you have over that to make sure it is not misappropriated?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 37

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 12:50:13 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

The reason I'm asking is that we heard previously that the Defence Investment Agency was not involved with the F-35, that it would be outside of it, but we just heard from the minister on April 20, through the media, that the Defence Investment Agency has actually been quite involved with the F-35 project. I'm curious to know, have you received any requests for funding for the Defence Investment Agency that would be related to the F-35?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 37

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 12:49:59 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Do you, as CFO, get to see what the requests are for the DIA?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 37

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 12:48:41 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Thank you very much. I appreciate that.

Mr. Hammond, I want to switch over to you for a bit here, because you're the CFO for PSPC. Is that correct? You're nodding yes.

How much money is allotted to the Defence Investment Agency? Do you know that number, roughly, off the top of your head?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 37

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 12:48:17 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates No. I'm sorry. Thankfully, very few of those have ever been successful. I mean that the security is not going to be easily accessible, I guess, for people trying to probe our system.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 37

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 12:47:48 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Are they accessible only by Canadians? I'm just making sure they're very secure. That's what I'm after. We've heard from Shared Services previously about the tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, of cyber-attacks that happen daily on Canadian government services. I just really want to make sure that this is very secure and what your level of confidence is in that.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 37

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 12:47:14 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Thank you. I really appreciate that.

Building out from that separately, can you confirm that the cloud services you are offering are located solely in Canada?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 37

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 12:46:43 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Thank you very much.

I want to follow up really quickly, Mr. Davis. You're talking about a list of different cloud and AI vendors and a bunch of different tools that are now available to departments. I'm wondering, can you submit to this committee a list of all the vendors for cloud, for AI and for the various tools that you have mentioned here today?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 37

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 11:44:57 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

I'm sorry, but my time is short here. I just find it interesting when you look at the percentage of major new equipment spend and compare that to the GDP increase. It doesn't quite seem to add up. I know there have been lots of fancy announcements and big commitments and promises of spend, but when you look at what's actually been spent on major new equipment, it doesn't quite line up to get us up to 2%.

How much of this 2% and greater is due to swallowing in the Coast Guard or just shuffling a few departments around or fudging the lines a bit to hit that 2%?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 37

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 11:44:04 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

I hope that you're taking the words of the vice-admiral and others quite seriously about the timelines that are needed to get these replacement vessels in line.

We saw that the government has claimed to have hit its 2% NATO commitment, which is laudable, for sure. Are you familiar with the departmental results for the Department of National Defence?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 37

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 11:42:43 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

The quote from Vice-Admiral Topshee was that “My heart tells me I need it in five years.” We still don't know when the RFI is going to go out. Most likely, the contract probably won't even be awarded until 2030. In here it mentions that the first ship would most likely not be operational until 2039.

You're the Finance guy. You're going to need some of this information and these details. Do you have a clear directive and a plan to get that RFI out, so that way the navy can get on with it? Obviously, the vice-admiral is pretty clear about when they would like to see it.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 37

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 11:42:13 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

I was reading in the Ottawa Citizen this morning about the continental defence corvette.

Do you know when the RFI is going to be released for that?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 37

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 11:41:25 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Thank you very much.

To the Department of National Defence, you mentioned that the Kingston-class maritime coastal defence vessels were part of the cost savings, because you're going to be retiring those ships.

What's the replacement for them?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence AMAD 4

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 20:16:01 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying

Thank you very much, Chair.

I will leave it at that.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence AMAD 4

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 20:15:08 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying We're being told this next expansion can be done safely, but if we expand MAID for mental illness as a sole underlying condition, what conditions would that actually include, and what would that mean for suicide prevention in Canada?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence AMAD 4

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 20:14:20 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying

Thank you for that.

The question before this committee is about MAID where the sole underlying condition is mental illness. Based on the data we already have, what does that tell us about who is receiving MAID now and why they are receiving it? Why should that make Parliament cautious about expanding MAID for mental illness?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence AMAD 4

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 20:11:58 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying

That's a tough ask of a politician, Mr. Chair.

Any which way, thank you to all the witnesses for coming today. I really appreciate the stories that you are all willing to share.

I'm going to start with Ms. Carr.

Before this committee even considers expanding MAID to mental illness alone in 2027, can you give us a flavour of the kinds of calls that Inclusion Canada receives from people and families about the existing MAID framework? What do these stories tell us about the risks of expanding it further?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 36

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:59:28 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Okay. That's our time. Thanks.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 36

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:58:02 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Okay.

If you look at the GC InfoBase website, in 2021, it was about 32,700-ish, so it's increased by almost 10,000 in the last five years.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 36

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:57:45 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Okay.

You said that last year you already laid off 3,300. Did I understand that correctly earlier?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 36

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:57:39 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates The number today is roughly 41,000.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 36

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:57:31 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Yes.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 36

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:57:08 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Okay. I think the terminology available online for Canadians to read might need to be updated if this is not to be considered as a bonus, because that is what it says online.

What was the number of employees throughout all of ESDC? If you were to go back five years, what does the employment number look like across the entirety of ESDC? Do you have a ballpark number for that?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 36

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:56:09 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Is it normal that only four out of 834 would not qualify for this? How did those four fail so spectacularly that they didn't get it?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 36

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:54:11 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

If you want to follow up with the accurate information, that would be great.

If we do some quick math, it looks as though it was a little over $14 million that was paid out in the at-risk bonus that was alluded to. Only four people didn't get it. When I look at the department plan, at the targets that have been set and at the performance of the department throughout it all, there is nothing that stands out as being such a stellar indicator of people—830 out of 834—deserving to get, basically, a performance bonus.

What exactly is the metric that is used for somebody to qualify to get the maximum amount of the at-risk pay?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 36

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:53:48 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Thank you very much.

I'm just going back to the at-risk pay issue; 830 out of 834 received this pay. Do you know how much money was paid out to those people?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 36

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:03:18 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Thank you.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 36

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:02:46 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Yes. Were you given any awareness, or was it, “Here, find these savings and go”?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 36

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:02:29 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Quickly, to finish up, were you guys consulted prior to the announcement of the cuts?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 36

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:01:00 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates How do you triage that, then? I know you alluded to this earlier. If somebody asks for a million-page document, you have to finish this first before you can move on to the next thing. How are you planning to balance that—to make sure the backlog is dropping while also still managing new requests coming in?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 36

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:00:23 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Okay. Suffice it to say that there's a lot of catch-up at play. With the types of cuts you're facing.... How difficult is that making it for you?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 36

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 15:59:29 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Thank you.

I'm sorry. This was a bit of a detour from the meeting. I appreciate your indulging me.

Getting back to the issue of ATIPs, do you happen to know the exact number of ATIPs that are currently in the backlog?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 36

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 15:58:53 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Have you run into any issues with infringement of the Copyright Act? Have you ever dealt with any of that?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 36

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 15:57:49 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Thank you very much.

This is a separate question right off the bat.

Have there been any difficulties or benefits for you due to the change in the copyright term—going from 50 years after death to 70 years after death?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence AMAD 3

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 21:03:50 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying

I think you hit the nail right on the head.

When we look especially at the numbers in Canada, we're around or maybe even over 100,000 people who have already ended their lives with MAID. You talked about some of the other numbers, looking at the Dutch model.

Do you have any other concerns about what we're seeing in statistics around the world that might give us some forewarning if we were to proceed down the path of track 2 expansion?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence AMAD 3

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 20:59:42 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying

Thank you very much to both witnesses. I really appreciated your testimony.

I'm going to start with Dr. Chochinov.

Could you elaborate a bit more? You have a tremendous amount of experience. I think you said you have spent 35 years studying human suffering and developing interventions specifically targeting the desire to die. I'm wondering, though, for a patient whose suffering feels irremediable and who has lost all sense of dignity and purpose, what does the evidence say can actually be offered, and what results have you seen in your 35 years of experience?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 34

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 17:09:38 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Thank you.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 34

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 17:09:18 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Have they been consulted about AI? Have you been consulted about the government's expansion of AI at ports?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 34

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 17:08:04 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

I can tell you, from the mayors and councillors and people I talk to on a regular basis, that there's been no consultation at all done with them.

Are you concerned too about having physically present officers replaced with technology? Are you concerned about that?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 34

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 17:07:05 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates I've been hearing concerns from a lot of the communities I represent that there will be an impact to the hours of operation at the border crossings. Do you share that same concern? Are you hearing concerns about that as well from the folks you represent?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 34

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 17:04:48 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates You mentioned in your opening remarks the 26,000 cuts to the public service. I'm wondering if you can elaborate a little on the impacts that is having for CBSA.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 34

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 17:04:33 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Thank you very much, everyone, for being here today.

Ms. DeSousa, I'll start with you. Can you confirm for the committee that PSAC represents the workers at the border?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 34

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 15:36:37 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Okay, so how on earth are we going to get to a path where we can actually lower that? I know that there are some fancy words about a stable level, but stable doesn't mean it's going down. If it's ever increasing, that's not good. How are we going to get it lower?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 34

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 15:36:29 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Yes.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 34

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 15:36:24 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Does it worry you that the number keeps going up and up?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 34

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 15:35:00 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

I'm curious about the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food's cuts to research and research stations. The department has a 32:1 return on its investment in research, and we're seeing drastic cuts. One of the departments hardest hit by cuts is the research side of the agriculture department.

The University of Saskatchewan has also confirmed that there's a return of 32:1, and in some cases greater than that, on investment in research for agriculture. I would strongly encourage, going forward, that the return on investment be seriously looked at and considered.

I wanted to ask you a question. Despite the CER, it's been reported that finance has had the biggest year-over-year increase in budgetary spending, which has something to do with higher interest payments on our national debt.

Can you tell us today how much you'll be spending on interest charges this year?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 34

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 15:34:41 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Would you consider, say, a 32:1 ROI a good return?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 34

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 15:33:48 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

No, it's not necessarily that. Obviously, the government spends a lot of money. When it spends money, is it getting a return on that investment?

I'm curious to know if that's a consideration for the government and your department. When you were going through cuts, were people looking to see if there was a good return on the investment in the item they were cutting before they cut it?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 34

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 15:33:22 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

That's interesting. There were other folks here earlier in this study who said that lens was actually not applied in many cases, so I find that to be interesting.

Do you think that departments should consider the return on investment for spending items before deciding to cut them?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 34

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 15:32:48 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Did you say that the GBA+ lens is what your department used, or were all departments across the entirety of the government instructed to use that lens?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 34

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 15:31:40 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Do you guys in finance or anywhere in the government give a directive on what a rural lens would look like? Do you have a definition that you use for “rural?”

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 34

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 15:30:56 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much, everybody, for joining us here today. We appreciate the time.

I'm going to jump right into it.

When the Department of Finance called for the spending review, which has led to layoffs, did you advise departments to make sure cuts would be proportionate between the national capital region and the other regions of Canada?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 33

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 12:49:39 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

On another track here, when it came to the CER, we got a response back saying that there is no tracking of the regional impact on jobs. I find it pretty wild that there's no central tracking of this. Why is there no central tracking of the regional impact and a breakdown by the Treasury Board for this?

I mean, there's going to be a disproportionate impact on rural and remote communities from this, I would suggest, based on what I've heard from folks who are going to be impacted by these layoffs. Why was rural Canada not thought about by Treasury Board?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 33

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 12:48:19 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates I know you elaborated on the EI element and some of those other things that are there, but 88% is not related to the budget. How much of this is a new initiative versus something that's just always there? If only 12% is related to the budget, for Canadians, what's the strategic direction?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 33

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 12:47:11 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Okay. For supplementary estimates (C), there was the CBC with $150 million. Did it get the $150 million?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 33

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 12:45:40 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates A PBO report on the supplementary estimates (C) indicates that roughly 12% of spending is from 13 budget measures. What's the other 88% for?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 33

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 12:08:59 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates I'll let Mr. Gill take this round, Mr. Chair.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 33

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 11:56:39 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates No, he's not.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 33

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 11:56:09 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates No, she gets the last minute.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 33

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 11:55:58 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates I'm sorry. I'm going to defer the last minute to my colleague Ms. Jansen. I want her to have the last minute.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 33

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 11:55:58 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Oh, I have a lot of concerns, Minister.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 33

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 11:55:47 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Did you approve that?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 33

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 11:53:46 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

The Department of Agriculture has research stations. The value of those research stations is that for every dollar that is spent, there is a 34:1 return on investment on those research dollars. Agriculture is one in nine jobs in Canada. It is one of our largest, if not the largest, exports and GDP developers in our economy. Those research stations, because of the work they do in scaling up crops, provide, as has been verified by the University of Saskatchewan and other universities, that figure of 34:1, yet you're cutting there.

Agriculture Canada is hitting that 15% reduction. We are shutting down the Indian Head research station, the Scott research station and the Lacombe research station. There are cuts to other research stations across the country. You as the President of the Treasury Board are trying to obviously get spending under control, yet the only department that can brag about having a real return on investment for taxpayers and getting value out of the work it's doing is the one that's having the most devastating cuts. Does that make sense to you?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 33

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 11:53:37 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Do you think that's a good return on investment?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 33

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 11:53:27 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates For one dollar spent, you get $34 back. Is that a good return on investment?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 33

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 11:52:58 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Thank you very much.

Minister, we were talking about some of the research council issues here. I'm going I ask a question first, and then we'll get into the research side of things. Do you consider a 34:1 return on investment a good return?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 33

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 11:12:16 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates That's interesting. Do you have a breakdown of the layoffs of public servants by region, Minister? Do you have that information?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 33

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 11:11:43 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Did you apply a rural lens to any of that spending, Minister?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 33

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 11:09:31 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

You're the Treasury Board president. I would hope you know what the national debt is. You don't even know what the deficit for this year is. It is just appalling that you would come to this committee and not even know some of those very basic numbers, which you should know as the head of the Treasury Board.

I will inform you, Minister, that the national debt is $1.29 trillion. By the end of your hour here at committee, another $4.5 million will have been added to the debt. By the end of today, it will be about $110 million—without your spending any money. The interest alone is going to be that high.

When we continue to add more and more spending through the supplementary estimates, those numbers only go higher and higher. They don't get any lower, which means that the current and next generations of Canadians are going to be the ones bearing the brunt of this.

I'm just wondering at what point in time you are going to return to a fiscal anchor that is actually going to help sustain the economy. It used to be that you were not going to go over a $40-billion deficit. This year, a $78-billion deficit was the projection. That's why I asked you if you knew what the latest update on the deficit was, and you don't know it.

I'll ask you one more time. I've given you some time to find that number. What is the deficit going to be with this update?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 33

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 11:08:57 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

You say it's “going well”. That's interesting.

Do you know what the national debt is right now, Minister?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 33

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 11:08:02 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

I have $24 billion in the numbers from the PBO. Actually, on a Government of Canada website, as well, it's $24 billion, which is basically a 5% increase.

At the same time, you guys are undergoing the comprehensive expenditure review, which is supposed to find $15 billion in savings. How's that going?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 33

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 11:07:44 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Okay.

Do you know what the increase is that we're seeing over this time last year as a result of these supplementaries?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 33

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 11:07:32 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Okay. It's an update. I was hoping you would know the answer.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 33

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 11:07:25 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates It's an update.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 33

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 11:07:15 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates You don't know what the projection for the deficit is going to be for the rest of the year.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 33

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 11:06:33 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Thank you, Minister, for coming here today. I really appreciate it.

I wonder if you can tell us straight off the top if you know what the deficit is going to be going forward.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 32

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 17:07:13 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Thanks, Chair.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 32

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 17:07:05 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Do you think we could do it on Thursday?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 32

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 17:04:46 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

I have a quick question.

Now that we've seen Mr. Lightbound back in the House, do we know if he is going to make an appearance at this committee, as we were talking about before? Have you guys had any conversations with him about that?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 32

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 16:52:40 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I appreciate this motion. We heard some good testimony today, but given the scale of the impact that the CERs are going to have not just on agriculture but also on other industries, I think that adding another four meetings to this study would be good. I see this as a nice addition to what we're already doing here and to the study we're currently on.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 32

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 16:43:59 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Thank you.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 32

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 16:43:16 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Okay.

Daryl, do you want to briefly touch on what impact it will have for the next generation of producers?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 32

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 16:41:42 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Darcy and Daryl, what sometimes gets lost in the Canadian agriculture conversation is the size of the farms we have out in western Canada as compared with the size of the farms in the rest of the country. I think closing down Indian Head and Scott will have a major impact on that, but also on the future, on the next generation of producers. We're already seeing a problem with attracting the next generation of farmers.

Can you talk briefly about the size of farms in the prairie regions and what impacts this will have on the future generation of producers, who we're already struggling to get?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 32

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 16:40:13 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Thank you.

Ms. Velestuk, I've been hearing from a lot of producers about the concerns around the losses for agronomy. I know you have an agronomy background. What impact do these cuts have on the agronomy side, and not just on the scale-up of varieties?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 32

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 16:38:51 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Thank you very much.

I'll just pick up really briefly on the topic of water.

Saskatchewan is sitting on a great opportunity for irrigation expansion.

Mr. Steinley, what is the potential for irrigation in Saskatchewan? What impact would these cuts have on that?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 32

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 16:18:09 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Thank you. I have about 20 seconds left.

Ms. Velestuk, can you talk quickly about the different soil zones in Saskatchewan?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 32

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 16:17:39 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Would it be safe to say that the cuts happening are going to have a severe impact on frontline delivery? The reason I'm asking this question is that we've heard from many other government departments that they can go through this and there will be no impact to service delivery. However, from what I understand, there will be an impact to service delivery for farmers, for producers and for Canadians across this country. Is that correct?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 32

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 16:17:03 -0400

	Jeremy Patzer Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan Conservative
Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates Yes, go ahead.

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 32

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 16:15:05 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

To the Western Canadian Wheat Growers, the consultation piece, I think, is a big part of this. I'm going to read you a quick quote from the departmental plan, and this came directly from the ag minister's mouth:

To position the sector to capture these opportunities, we are beginning to lay the groundwork for the next five-year policy framework set to begin in 2028. Together, with governments and industry stakeholders at the table, we will work to keep our sector on a strong growth curve, feed the world and build the strongest economy in the G7.

I'm hearing from you guys that that wasn't actually the case, that there was no consultation, and I've been hearing repeatedly over and over again that there is no plan. To say that in 2028, they're going to do something, but here in 2026 and 2025, they're doing what they're doing now.... How does that work for you guys in the industry when you see that statement from the minister, but then the action you're seeing on the ground is completely different?

Jeremy Patzer - Committee Evidence OGGO 32

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 16:13:28 -0400

Jeremy Patzer
Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Conservative

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thanks to all the witnesses for being here.

Mr. Steinley, can you just talk about the nature of all the layoffs? They seem to be from the rural site locations. There don't seem to be any layoffs here in Ottawa from the bigger bureaucracy. It's all from the frontline folks. I'm just wondering if you had a few more thoughts on that.