Ottawa, ON – Jamie Schmale, Conservative Shadow Minister for Indigenous Services Canada, and Gary Vidal, Shadow Minister for Crown-Indigenous Relations released the following statement on the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s report detailing the Liberal failures on Indigenous Services and Crown-Indigenous Relations:

“Spending more and achieving less. That’s the Liberals’ record.

“Today’s damning report by the Parliamentary Budget Officer details the Liberals’ continued approach of pumping more money into a broken ‘Ottawa-knows-best system’ that fails Indigenous Peoples.

“Instead of working with Indigenous leaders to tackle the systematic inequalities that hold Indigenous people back from achieving prosperity, the Liberals continue down their paternalistic path that spends more and achieves less.

“Rather than fixing the problem, the Liberals blew through their budget by $863 million – a 48 per cent increase – which only resulted in a ‘significant decline’ in Indigenous Services Canada’s ability to get the job done.

“For too long, Indigenous peoples have been waiting for the Liberal government to deliver on their empty promises and commitments to reconciliation. It’s time to make the systemic changes necessary to begin the divestment of program delivery, in order to pursue a self-determined delivery model.

“Conservatives will always advocate for meaningful and measurable action to advance reconciliation in this country. We will be bringing forward a motion at the Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee to hear directly from the Liberal Minister for Crown-Indigenous Relations, and the Minister for Indigenous Services Canada, to answer for the government’s failures.”