Mr. Speaker, never has a culture of control been such a defining feature of a government. It is refusing to answer reporters' questions, muzzling scientists and interfering in access to information requests and private members' bills.
Now Public Safety Canada officials, just like their Environment Canada colleagues, will have to notify the minister before they make public statements. The Prime Minister and his ministers have to know absolutely everything.
As the driving force behind this obsessive need for control, how can the Prime Minister claim that, until the media broke the story, he knew nothing about the $90,000 cheque his chief of staff wrote to keep the Duffy scandal quiet?
Is the Prime Minister suggesting that he controls everything except what goes on in his office?