Debates of June 14th, 2013

Ethics

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is illegal to make a private payment or provide any benefit to a senator for anything relating to their official functions. It is illegal under section 16 of the Parliament of Canada Act. It is illegal under sections 119 and 121 of the Criminal Code. These passages speak explicitly to fraud and bribery.

What information have the Prime Minister and his office proactively provided to the RCMP? If the answer is nothing, why have they not done so?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

Mr. Speaker, the government will obviously co-operate with the RCMP in any matter. We certainly hope, however, that the leader of the Liberal Party will co-operate with the Grace Foundation from which he took $20,000. Let us be clear. He was getting paid $160,000 as an MP, but he went and took a $20,000 cheque from a group of seniors trying to do a fundraiser to buy furniture.

I would like to know how many members here go to charity events where they give money. Could they put up their hands? Alright. That is what most Canadians do. Middle-class Canadians give money to charities, they do not take $20,000 cheques--

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please.

The hon. member for Ottawa South.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this is now the matter of a full RCMP criminal investigation. The government cannot pretend that the cancelled cheque or the February 20 email somehow relate to a private transaction. The chief of staff was involved and the Prime Minister's personal legal counsel drafted the agreement.

Will the Prime Minister's Office now immediately provide these documents and all information in its possession to the RCMP or is it waiting for yet another RCMP search and seizure?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

Mr. Speaker, of course, the government and the Prime Minister's Office will co-operate with the RCMP in any manner.

Again, we would like to know when the Liberal leader will co-operate with the charities from which he took hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees while he was getting paid to act as a member of Parliament. That is about public service. While he was being paid to perform public service he was actually out there taking huge amounts of money from seniors and other charities to serve himself.

He pretends to be a defender of the middle class. Middle-class Canadians make charitable contributions. They do not take huge payments from charities, especially when it is their job to help them.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill, MB]

Mr. Speaker, last night, Pamela Wallin said, “...the job of a principal secretary or a Chief of Staff is to ....try and protect the Prime Minister”.

Do Conservatives agree with this statement and is it then not reasonable to assume that Nigel Wright had the Prime Minister's interest in mind when he wrote the cheque?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

Mr. Speaker, if the member wants to ask questions of Nigel Wright, she is free to do so. That is not government business.

I will say this. What is government business is ensuring that private members are able to get business through this House of Commons and right now the NDP is filibustering the private member's bill of the member for Calgary Northeast that would strip Canadian citizenship from serious convicted terrorists. Over 80% of Canadians support that idea. Only 6% strongly oppose it, but it turns out the entire NDP caucus represents that aberrant view that serious convicted terrorists should be able to retain their Canadian citizenship. Shame on them.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill, MB]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians have serious questions about the government's role in the Senate, yet Conservatives disrespect this House and disrespect Canadians by refusing to answer.

Let us try this again. Has anyone on that side of the House seen a copy of this cheque that they seem to know so much about? If so, have they handed it over to police?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

Mr. Speaker, the answer is no, and the government cannot hand over a cheque from someone's private account that does not have anything to do with the government.

What does have to do with the government is keeping Canadians safe. Canadians believe overwhelmingly—including the vast majority of supporters of the NDP, according to polling—that if Canadians express violent disloyalty to this country by committing serious acts of treason or terrorism, they should lose the citizenship that they have repudiated through their actions.

The NDP, in its extremism, does not agree and is filibustering the bill that would correct this. Why will it not let us bring—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. member for Pierrefonds—Dollard.

[Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe, NDP, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are doing everything they can to divert attention from their own scandals. I wonder if they provide the same answers to the investigators who are questioning them as part of the criminal investigation into the shenanigans that went on at the Prime Minister's Office.

Has anyone from the Prime Minister's Office spoken to Nigel Wright now that he is at the centre of a criminal investigation?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

Mr. Speaker, again, the Prime Minister's Office and the government have not been contacted by the RCMP about this.

The vast majority of Canadians, including NDP supporters and Quebeckers, support the idea of revoking the Canadian citizenship of anyone who is convicted of committing serious terrorist acts. We are wondering why the NDP refuses to agree to adopt the bill introduced by the hon. member for Calgary Northeast on this.

[Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe, NDP, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Mr. Speaker, a crime may have been committed at the Prime Minister's Office and it seems as though the Conservatives are doing everything they can not to talk about it. The affairs of the state should be treated more seriously.

Senators tried to defraud taxpayers: that is one thing. However, it does not end there. This morning, we learn that Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu tried to convince Senate administration to extend the paid leave of an employee who was none other than his girlfriend. This is another example of the privileged trying to abuse their privileges.

After condoning fraud for years, does this government also condone such behaviour from one of its senators?

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, the Senate was right to reject this inappropriate request.

[Alexandrine Latendresse, NDP, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, did the RCMP contact the Leader of the Government in the Senate as part of its criminal investigation of the $90,000 payment to Mike Duffy by Nigel Wright, the Prime Minister's former chief of staff?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

Mr. Speaker, I repeat that no one in government was contacted by the RCMP about that.

However, yesterday, the leader of the NDP was contacted by the RCMP, who wanted to know why he ignored all traffic rules on Parliament Hill. Furthermore, some NDP members have not paid their taxes. We want to know why the NDP does not have more respect for Canada's laws.

[Alexandrine Latendresse, NDP, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, was any member of cabinet contacted by the RCMP during its investigation into Nigel Wright's $90,000 payment to Mike Duffy? Anyone? We are talking about a criminal investigation.

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, no one in government was contacted by the RCMP about that.

Once again, I hope that the NDP will explain to Canadians why it opposes the idea that dangerous terrorists must lose their citizenship. It is a very simple principle, a principle supported by almost all other democracies in the world. It was the law in Canada before 1977. Furthermore, 80% of Canadians agree with this principle. Why is the NDP opposed to it?

[Matthew Dubé, NDP, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am sure if the government's bill was so good the parliamentary secretary would not need to arrive with a stack of amendments. That is what the New Democrats are trying to improve at the immigration committee.

I have a very simple question. Did the Prime Minister consult a lawyer to find out how he should act in a criminal investigation of his office pertaining to the $90,000 that the former chief of staff of this country's Prime Minister—I remind hon. members—paid to Conservative Senator Mike Duffy?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, no one at the PMO was contacted by the RCMP in this regard.

However, there are still members of the NDP who have not paid their taxes. They are breaking the law. We would like to know when they intend to meet the requirements of the Income Tax Act and pay their taxes like the rest of Canadians. The NDP is not exactly setting a good example by failing to pay taxes.

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

Mr. Speaker, a criminal investigation of the PMO is serious, period.

It is sad to see that the Conservatives have stopped even trying to pretend to be accountable to Canadians.

The question is simple. On what specific date did the Prime Minister's former chief of staff, Nigel Wright, give Mike Duffy the money to pay back his fraudulent claims?

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship]

Mr. Speaker, that question has already been answered.

Since the NDP refuses to answer my question, I am going to ask again why they took such extensive measures to prevent the hon. member for Calgary Northeast's private member's bill from being adopted or even voted on by the immigration committee. This bill would set up a system to revoke the citizenship of convicted terrorists.

A total of 80% of Canadians support that idea. Why does the NDP not support it?

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians can see right through the strategy of not answering questions. It is not that difficult to see.

Conservatives have turned promises of openness into secret payouts and backroom deals. That is the truth. They turned promises of accountability into a PBO under siege and gerrymandered the hiring involving Conservative staffers. Now they have the gall to hike bonuses for ministerial executives in the midst of layoffs and departmental cuts.

Are there any principles left that Conservatives are not willing to sell out?

[Andrew Saxton, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board and for Western Economic Diversification]

Mr. Speaker, our government is setting the tone by reducing ministers' offices' spending by over 18%, and spending in the Prime Minister's Office has been reduced by over 22%. Economic action plan 2010 froze departmental operating budgets, and these freezes remain in place today.

Unlike the opposition, we will not stop saving taxpayers money, but we will stop at stop signs.