House of Commons Hansard #59 of the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was seniors.

Topics

EthicsOral Questions

2:15 p.m.

Calgary Southwest Alberta

Conservative

Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, to my knowledge, I have responded to the facts.

The Leader of the Opposition has made criminal allegations against me. He will have to defend himself and defend these allegations before a court of law.

EthicsOral Questions

2:15 p.m.

Saint-Laurent—Cartierville Québec

Liberal

Stéphane Dion LiberalLeader of the Opposition

Do you know, Mr. Speaker, why the Prime Minister does not answer this simple question? It is because he is afraid of the truth and the consequences. However, he has no choice. He must answer. Canadians have the right to know.

Once again, is it his voice on the tape, yes or no?

EthicsOral Questions

2:15 p.m.

Calgary Southwest Alberta

Conservative

Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister

Of course, Mr. Speaker, nobody suggested it is not my voice.

What the Leader of the Opposition has suggested is that he has some evidence of me offering Chuck Cadman a bribe. He has absolutely no such evidence. He will need to defend that in a court of law. I hope he does a better job than he did last night when he brought in a motion to bring down the government and then promptly told his MPs not to vote on it.

EthicsOral Questions

2:15 p.m.

Liberal

Michael Ignatieff Liberal Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON

Mr. Speaker, we know that Tom Flanagan and Doug Finley made an offer to Chuck Cadman on May 19. No one disputes this.

However, we also know, based on statements from the Cadman family, that two Conservative operatives approached Chuck Cadman on May 17 with a financial offer of some kind.

The Prime Minister acknowledges both the operatives and the financial considerations on the tape we have just been discussing.

Will the Prime Minister tell us who these two other operatives were? What does he have to hide?

EthicsOral Questions

2:20 p.m.

Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam B.C.

Conservative

James Moore ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services and for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics

Mr. Speaker--

EthicsOral Questions

2:20 p.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh!

EthicsOral Questions

2:20 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken

Order, please. I know the parliamentary secretary evokes a lot of sympathy when he stands in the House but that is not an excuse for all this noise. We need to be able to hear the parliamentary secretary when he gives his answer so we will have some order, please.

EthicsOral Questions

2:20 p.m.

Conservative

James Moore Conservative Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC

Mr. Speaker, there was only one offer made to Chuck Cadman and that was for Chuck to rejoin the Conservative caucus. It was made by Doug Finley and Tom Flanagan on May 19.

We asked Chuck Cadman to rejoin the Conservative caucus and to be a candidate for us in the subsequent campaign. That was the only offer put forward on May 19.

EthicsOral Questions

2:20 p.m.

Liberal

Michael Ignatieff Liberal Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON

Mr. Speaker, the answer is not clear. During his interview with Mr. Zytaruk, the Prime Minister clearly said that two legitimate Conservative representatives made an offer to Chuck Cadman and that the offer had a financial aspect to it.

What was that financial aspect?

Who were those two emissaries who made a financial offer to Chuck Cadman, not on the 19th, but on the 17th?

EthicsOral Questions

2:20 p.m.

Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam B.C.

Conservative

James Moore ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services and for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics

Mr. Speaker, there was only one offer: that of May 19, 2005. It was an offer inviting Chuck Cadman to join the Conservative Party and to run as one of our candidates in the 2005 election, if the Liberal government fell. That was the only offer on the table. Chuck Cadman said so himself in his own words during a television program on May 19.

EthicsOral Questions

2:20 p.m.

Bloc

Gilles Duceppe Bloc Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC

Mr. Speaker, in an interview he gave to Chuck Cadman's biographer in September 2005, the Prime Minister acknowledged that he had been informed of the negotiations between representatives of his party and Mr. Cadman. He also said quite clearly, “Of the offer to Chuck, it was only to replace financial considerations he might lose due to an election”.

Can the Prime Minister confirm what he said in the interview: that he was informed of the discussions between his party and Chuck Cadman and that financial considerations had been linked to those discussions?

EthicsOral Questions

2:20 p.m.

Calgary Southwest Alberta

Conservative

Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, I have answered that question. The answer is clear. We wanted Mr. Cadman to join the Conservative caucus. The party was prepared to help him with his nomination as a Conservative candidate and provide him with support for his election campaign, as Canadian law allows.

EthicsOral Questions

2:20 p.m.

Bloc

Gilles Duceppe Bloc Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC

Mr. Speaker, is the Prime Minister telling us that they actually asked Mr. Cadman to run for the Conservatives when a candidate had already been chosen, Mr. Matta, who was never told that the party had another candidate and that he would not be representing the Conservative Party, even though he had already been nominated; that Mr. Cadman, who unfortunately was terminally ill, was asked to run for election—he had had problems getting to Ottawa—and that he would have campaigned in his condition? Is that what the Prime Minister is saying?

EthicsOral Questions

2:20 p.m.

Calgary Southwest Alberta

Conservative

Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, once again, the answers are clear. We wanted Mr. Cadman to join the Conservative caucus. Clearly, the party was prepared to provide Mr. Cadman with support for his nomination and his re-election campaign. A party commonly helps its candidates and sitting members.

EthicsOral Questions

2:20 p.m.

Bloc

Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC

Mr. Speaker, in the recently released recording, the Prime Minister himself said that he was aware of a meeting during which Conservative Party representatives offered financial incentives to Chuck Cadman on the eve of the confidence vote in May 2005. His wife, his daughter and his son-in-law have all confirmed that the meeting took place and that an offer involving money was made.

Since the Prime Minister is so proud of being transparent, will he tell us the names of the Conservative Party representatives who met with Mr. Cadman on May 17, 2005?

EthicsOral Questions

2:20 p.m.

Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam B.C.

Conservative

James Moore ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services and for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics

Mr. Speaker, the only meeting at which an offer was made took place on May 19, 2005, and the people in attendance were Doug Finley and Tom Flanagan. They both made an offer to Chuck Cadman, and that offer was discussed here in the House yesterday. They wanted Chuck Cadman to run as a Conservative Party candidate in the 2005 campaign, and they offered to help him with the campaign. That was the only offer, and that was the only meeting.

EthicsOral Questions

2:25 p.m.

Bloc

Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC

Mr. Speaker, the government only ever wants to talk about the meeting that took place on Thursday, May 19, the day of the vote. However, in his book, Tom Flanagan suggested that other meetings took place before that Thursday to woo Chuck Cadman. The Prime Minister seems to know more than he is willing to admit, because he acknowledged that he was aware of financial offers made to Mr. Cadman.

Is the Prime Minister telling us that he allowed his party's representatives to try to buy Mr. Cadman's vote, which is strictly prohibited under the Criminal Code?

EthicsOral Questions

2:25 p.m.

Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam B.C.

Conservative

James Moore ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services and for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics

Mr. Speaker, no such offer was made. As I just said, the only offer was made on May 19, 2005. I know that other meetings with Mr. Cadman took place. I know that the Liberal member for Vancouver South and the former Liberal prime minister also met with Mr. Cadman. Several people tried to get him on side, but the only meeting between our party and Mr. Cadman, the meeting with Doug Finley and Tom Flanagan, took place on May 19, 2005. The only thing Messrs. Finley and Flanagan talked about with him was our invitation to have him join the Conservative Party and our caucus.

TradeOral Questions

March 4th, 2008 / 2:25 p.m.

NDP

Jack Layton NDP Toronto—Danforth, ON

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's Office meddled in American politics by leaking information to the Associated Press. Yesterday, I asked the Prime Minister to fire the source of this interference, identified by Associated Press as Ian Brodie, the Prime Minister's chief of staff. The Prime Minister did not deny it and gave an insincere apology. Will the Prime Minister fire his chief of staff? Will he confirm that he was the source of this interference?

TradeOral Questions

2:25 p.m.

Calgary Southwest Alberta

Conservative

Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, the Canadian embassy in Washington has already apologized for the leaked information. The government is trying to identify who was responsible for leaking the information to the public; it was not my chief of staff.

TradeOral Questions

2:25 p.m.

NDP

Jack Layton NDP Toronto—Danforth, ON

Mr. Speaker, the NAFTA question is a very important question for working families and so is the question of leaks from the Prime Minister's Office that are apparently producing interference in the American election campaign and the Democratic primaries.

If the Prime Minister is telling us today that it was not his chief of staff, who was it? Is it possible that the Prime Minister himself knew about this information and authorized the leaks in order to discredit the campaign of Mr. Obama for president of the United States?

TradeOral Questions

2:25 p.m.

Calgary Southwest Alberta

Conservative

Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister

Mr. Speaker, the leak of this particular document is--

TradeOral Questions

2:25 p.m.

Liberal

Ralph Goodale Liberal Wascana, SK

Sue him.

TradeOral Questions

2:25 p.m.

Conservative

Lawrence Cannon Conservative Pontiac, QC

The only guy we're suing is you for your big mouth.

TradeOral Questions

2:25 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken

Order, order. The right hon. Prime Minister has the floor to answer a question. We will have some order. I cannot hear a word. The right hon. Prime Minister.