Thank you, Mr. Chair.
It's a bit troubling to note that the comments made were very similar in both English and French. I find this interesting but troubling, because of the fact that the comments made by my colleagues were not precisely accurate. First, the apology was what might be called a qualified apology.
This is a personal pet peeve, Chair. When people in public life “kind of” apologize, it always drives me nuts. A straight apology, taking full responsibility, would have been welcome, because, in my experience, Canadians are very forgiving people. It was completely qualified. As was said earlier, the Prime Minister actually did disagree with the commissioner about one of the main points of her report, as to whether the Aga Khan was a friend or not. In that same press conference my friends referred to, “personal family friend” were the most commonly used words, other than “um” and “the”. The Prime Minister was disagreeing with the conclusions of the report, actually, without saying it. You can't half agree on something like this. There has to be full agreement, and there was failure in that regard.
One other small point, Chair, which is something we would want to raise with the Prime Minister, is that the commissioner was unable to find whether the Prime Minister did further the Aga Khan's personal interests or his foundation's interests, because she was not privy to the conversations that happened. As my friends know, no minutes of those confidential meetings were taken or offered to the commissioner, so she was unable to say whether he had or had not, and she had to conclude that she had no evidence that he had. My direct question to the Prime Minister would be, “Did you?” That has not been answered yet.
In terms of suggesting that the press conference was the opportunity for the Prime Minister to be clear, he was asked a direct question by Rosie Barton, I think—I'm not positive, because I couldn't see who was off-camera—about what this decision said about his “moral compass” or “ethical compass”. I think she said one of those two. This was the “answer”, and I use that in quotations: “The fact is we work—sorry, let me just try to reorder the thoughts—we, um, work with the Lobbying...no, the Conflict of Interest Commissioner on a regular basis on a broad range of issues when the issues come up. On this issue of my family vacation with a personal friend, it wasn't considered that there would be an issue here. Obviously there was a mistake.”
The question was about an ethical compass. The “answer” didn't answer the question, and also contradicted the Ethics Commissioner about the whole issue of a friend.
On a personal note, colleagues, I find it a bit bizarre that if she determined he was a closer friend, this would all be okay. That you could accept pretty lavish gifts from somebody who is also lobbying your office individually is a loophole that people could exploit, and maybe that was why the Prime Minister thought all of this was okay.
To the point about whether we would have the opportunity in question period, particularly on Wednesdays, I've asked the Prime Minister questions about this issue in that forum. My 30-second question was not given, really, the decency of a 30-second answer. Let's be perfectly clear. When we've asked very simple, straightforward questions on this issue, we have gotten back, almost verbatim, a non-answer.
The opportunity we have at a committee, as my colleagues know, is that we can have—occasionally and, I think, more than occasionally—a thoughtful exchange with a witness to talk about specific things. It may be shocking to some, but this isn't just about Justin Trudeau. This is about the system we have in place in Canada and whether it is sufficient to protect public interests when they cross over with private interests. There was a private interest to go on a trip. The Prime Minister's office was reluctant to reveal that trip. It was only because the media dug and dug and dug, and they found out. I can understand why there was reluctance.
This isn't just about this one trip. It's about the culture that's created around a leader. We know how important that is. My colleagues across the way had concerns with the previous prime minister and the culture he created around himself with regard to accountability, secrecy, and control.
This would be an opportunity for this Prime Minister to demonstrate, not through words but through actions, how he is different. It really would. I honestly believe it. I also honestly believe he'll be capable of answering in an excellent way all the questions that I've outlined for you today. I don't doubt it for a minute. He's been a sitting Prime Minister for more than two years now, and he's been in politics for a while before that.
These are real concerns. If my friends don't think they merit an hour of our time at a committee, I'm not sure what would. Put yourself in our shoes. For the first time, you have a sitting Prime Minister who has been found in violation of the ethics rules that guide us all as parliamentarians.
He is the most powerful elected figure in the country. Not only should the standard be the same as it is for all of us but, I would argue, it has to be even higher because of the power and influence he holds. It's worrisome to me that we're going to suggest that question period and an awkward press conference are enough when it comes to accountability for this government over what is obviously a pretty serious issue. I'm just imagining my Liberal friends across the way if this exact scenario had played itself out for Prime Minister Harper. I'm sure they would be raising some of the same things I have.
As it may seem like a risk, I will offer this. I think it's far riskier to deny this opportunity, because the signal that is sent is that they can't be bothered to answer our questions; they don't find this troubling enough to answer questions at a committee hearing in what has been, as Mr. Erskine-Smith has said, an overwhelmingly well-chaired and collegial affair. Of course, the energy or intensity might be up when we have a Prime Minister in front of us, but he is also a colleague. He is also an elected member of Parliament, just like us, but he has higher responsibilities and has laid out for himself and all of his cabinet a higher standard, and that standard was broken. Does anyone deny that?
My colleagues are going to suggest that the press conference and the 30-second questions in question period are a sufficient response to having broken one of the central tenets of this government's promise to the Canadian people when it was elected. I profoundly disagree.
I can understand the pressures my friends might be feeling from other colleagues, the Prime Minister's Office, or whoever, but I would suggest that they resist those pressures and see the larger goal here, which is the confidence Canadians seem to have in us when they elect us, whoever they elect, whatever the party stripe.
Thank you, Chair.