Mr. Speaker, I asked for this adjournment debate in order to obtain an answer to a question I posed during question period on March 5 about the so-called Cadman affair.
For the benefit of those listening to us, here is a summary. Chuck Cadman was a former independent MP. He is deceased. Chuck Cadman's wife, Dona, said that two Conservative Party representatives visited her husband to offer him a $1 million insurance policy in exchange for his support in defeating the budget on May 19, 2005.
Chuck Cadman's wife, daughter and son-in-law are adamant about this and even told an author who wrote Chuck Cadman's biography.
At the time, the Prime Minister himself made a statement on tape to the effect that it was just to compensate him for financial losses he could incur if an election were held. The Prime Minister himself spoke of the financial considerations offered.
The current Prime Minister was the leader of the opposition at the time. According to the rules of this Parliament, I cannot name him, but I am certain that everyone knows who I am talking about. Tom Flanagan and Doug Finley, two special advisors from the office of the leader of the opposition—the person I cannot name—went to see Chuck Cadman on the day of the vote and made him offers. Today, they claim that the most they offered him was to win the Conservative nomination again, but their testimony is contradicted by Mr. Cadman's family.
I do not want to spend any more time going over the facts, because they are known. What is at stake is section 119 of the Criminal Code. The stakes are huge. This section makes it illegal to offer a member a financial consideration in order to influence his or her vote. The Criminal Code is very clear on this.
The stakes were that important, and I am not talking about the political stakes, because they are also known. We know that this government blithely engages in censorship, political interference and favouritism. There have even been raids on the party's headquarters. And now, it has brought the work of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights to a standstill.
In fact, since April 1, when the members of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights indicated that they wanted to look into the Cadman affair and hear witnesses, the work of this committee has ground to a halt. The committee is no longer sitting. This is holding up several bills that this committee should have been studying.
Not only is the Conservative government willing to do anything it can to prevent the committee from looking into the Cadman affair, but it is also willing to prevent the members of this House from studying other bills. The work of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights has been stalled since April 1, one month ago today.
I asked a question about this in March, but did not get a satisfactory answer. I said that “instead of dodging the issue, the Prime Minister should admit, as he already has in a recorded interview, that the Conservative Party made financial offers to Chuck Cadman” and face the consequences with honesty.