Mr. Speaker, with respect to the member who seconded the motion, Canadians will recall a few years ago the allegation by a member of the House, the same member, that a long established public servant working with the security services of Canada was “a Russian spy”.
She said she had found out that there was a mole within the security services of Canada. She went outside the House. She released the document and smeared the reputation of a long serving public servant by saying there was a spy within the security services of Canada. The member who just seconded this serious motion apologized under threat of being sued. The allegation was withdrawn because the member was wrong.
When we hear a serious allegation the first thing we ought to do is consider the source. The sources are two members. Both members issued false statements, one while a member of the Alberta legislature and the other while a member of this place. Both settled before the threat of court action. Both have been found libellous with their comments and both are now standing as the chief accusers of the Prime Minister. We should consider the source.
We have another right hon. gentleman who has joined in this little charade, the right hon. leader of the Conservative Party whom I have seen across the floor of this place over the last 20 years. He says that he is interested in truth, justice and proper form. He says that he is not interested in battling the weak, dissipating and disappearing Leader of the Opposition for the title of leader of the new united right, whenever the right, fractious as it is, gets united. He says that is not what is going on.
No, this is about his undying, unyielding, overwhelming and powerful pursuit of truth. How unyielding and attracted to truth is the right hon. member? The CBC program The Fifth Estate did a documentary pointing out that German money associated with the Airbus affair was used to fly delegates and their wives and families into a Conservative Party convention, and that the money was passed out for spending sprees and shopping trips in order to take delegates away from the then leader of the Conservative Party. When the right hon. member was asked if he thought that was true and if he was concerned that Canadian national parties were tainted by foreign money, his answer was that he would respond in his memoirs.
If anyone is to take seriously the self-described spectacle of the leader of the Conservative Party as a gentleman who wakes up in the morning oozing the stuff of the pursuit of truth, then perhaps he ought to start the pursuit in his own backyard. Perhaps he should demand that proper investigations be done to determine what happened that day so long ago when, according to the CBC's The Fifth Estate and Mr. Karlheinz Schreiber himself, his party leadership was stolen away from him by forces outside the country.
It is not credible that the gentleman opposite is seriously pursuing the proper conduct and practice of parliament, Canadian parliamentary institutions and parties. It is not credible when he turns a blind eye to this story of which he was a victim within his own party.
The simple facts are these, and I will conclude with this. The Prime Minister sold his interest prior to becoming Prime Minister or at the time he became Prime Minister in 1993. That is a fact. The RCMP has investigated the matter at the request of the leader of the Conservative Party. The RCMP took a look and closed the file. It said publicly that there was no need for further investigation and no basis for an investigation. That was the independent inquiry.
The ethics counsellor is a long serving public servant. He is a former trade commissioner and negotiator who has spent nearly 30 years of his life in the Public Service of Canada. He too has repeatedly looked into the matter and closed the file. A majority of Canadians, 82%, say it is time to turn the page. Some 75%, more than voted for the Prime Minister in the last election, say the Prime Minister should not resign. Canadians are telling members of parliament to get on with the business of Canada and bring this spectacle to an end.