The outgoing leader of the Conservative Party of Canada says the opposition will be monitoring how the federal government spends any money earmarked as relief to people and businesses impacted by COVID-19.

Speaking on NL Newsday, Andrew Scheer says his focus will be on the health and finance committees in the House of Commons.

“We are going to be using that to get answers,” he said. “For example, we will press the government to explain why they sent thousands of pieces of protective medical equipment to China, days after the World Health Organization had warned us that it was likely to spread. We want to get a better understanding of where all the money is coming from.”

Scheer adds the federal government also needs to ‘up their game’ in response to COVID-19, saying it is up to the opposition to ensure the government is held accountable for their mistakes.

“In a lot of ways, the government’s response has been all over the map. They have had to completely reverse themselves, which doesn’t give Canadians a lot of confidence in terms of the government having a grip on what’s going on,” Scheer added.

“From day to day, the government’s message has changed. They reverse themselves. They contradict themselves and they often make announcements without details.”

On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also announced that large and small businesses, non-profits, and charities will all be eligible for a 75-per-cent subsidy on wages announced last week.

In addition to the wage subsidy, a $107 billion financial assistance and stimulus package has also passed through Parliament.

“We decided to allow the bill to proceed through but we did not support all of the measures that the government gave themselves,” added Scheer. “So you know, we are going to be working very closely to make sure that the finance committee does its job, to make sure that the money is being spent in a wise fashion.”

The House of Commons is set to meet again on April 20, while the Senate is slated to return on April 21.