Debates of March 2nd, 2011

Political Financing

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

Mr. Speaker, there will be a lot of people in federal prisons tonight who will think they had an administrative disagreement with the federal government.

The candidates in 67 ridings, the top national organizers and fundraisers of the Conservative Party are all in this up to their necks. They submitted fake invoices for fake expenses. They thought they could fool Elections Canada and the Federal Court of Appeal. Guess what? They cannot.

Therefore, why did that party use illegal money to campaign with dirty money in the last election?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member can become excited and animated all he wants. The reality is this continues to be a five-year-old administrative dispute. One court has ruled in favour of the Conservative Party and another has done otherwise.

That being said, we will follow the rules. We have a strong case and we will continue to defend and advance that case in the courts.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of Elections Canada, which accused the Conservative Party of falsely allocating expenses to candidates to circumvent the spending limit for the 2005-06 election. Until now, the Conservatives have spread falsehoods and called the Elections Canada accusations “an administrative dispute”.

Will the Prime Minister finally admit that the Conservatives violated Elections Canada's rules?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative Party always respects the interpretations that are in place. At that time, there were different court decisions on the matter. We will continue to defend our position in the courts.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled in favour of Elections Canada, which refused to reimburse the illegal election expenses of some candidates. Sixty-seven candidates participated in the scheme, including the member for Pontiac, the member for Louis-Saint-Laurent and the member for Mégantic—L'Érable.

Can the Prime Minister tell us if the Conservatives will admit they were wrong, accept the Federal Court's ruling and not file an appeal?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the courts have handed down different decisions and we still have the right to appeal. Our party and our candidates acted in good faith. We changed our practices three years ago as a result of changes to Elections Canada interpretations.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's parliamentary secretary is saying that the Conservative Party is working with the courts and that it has given Elections Canada all of the documents. That is absolute rubbish. The RCMP had to go into Conservative headquarters with a search warrant to obtain documents proving that the Conservatives tried to pass off national expenses as local ones.

Does that additional falsehood not prove that the Conservatives have no shame about bending the truth, just as they did not hesitate to violate the Canada Elections Act in order to seize power?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for her question.

The Conservative candidates spent Conservative money on Conservative ads. The national party also transferred funds to its candidates. Elections Canada knows this because we told them. Why not? It is legal, it is ethical and all the parties do it, including the Bloc. We have a very solid case and we will defend it before the courts.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in order to remain in power, the Conservatives are telling more half-truths and are not hesitating to violate the law. Since the Conservatives have been in power, the Access to Information and Privacy Act has been all but ignored and the independence of crown corporations has been all but lost. The Minister of International Cooperation had made false statements in the House and is getting away with it. Some Conservative organizers who orchestrated the circumvention of the Canada Elections Act have even been compensated with Senate appointments.

When will this government stop ignoring the law and the truth?

[John Baird, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative Party has been very clear in court. We have already said that we will launch an appeal. We will wait for the final decision.

[Jack Layton, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Mr. Speaker, while the Conservative Party is sinking into a financial scandal, which brings back memories of the Liberal Party's sponsorship scandal, the Prime Minister continues to deny any responsibility for the in and out scandal. Four Conservatives are now facing prison time.

Can the Prime Minister tell us what role these four Conservatives will play in the next election? Will they be coming up with a new way to cheat?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, it is not a question of illegal money; rather it is a question of whether the expenses were local or national.

Our position is clear: we already abided by Election Canada's new interpretations during the 2008 election, which we won again. We will always comply with decisions on this matter.

[Jack Layton, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister uses his bagmen, paid for by the taxpayers, because they are sitting in the Senate, to raise money for his party and invent ways to cheat on election financing laws.

Senator Lavigne was suspended for having a staff member cut some trees on his property. The Prime Minister's senators are facing jail time for multi-million dollar actions against our democracy.

Why are they still sitting in the Senate?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the question in dispute is whether election expenses, which were fully reported, are national or local by definition. That has been the dispute for the past five years.

The party respected the interpretations of the law, as it understood it at the time. It has altered those interpretations and its practices in the election of 2008, in which we also wanted to conform with the new interpretations. We will continue to do so in the future, and obviously defend the actions of our people.

[Jack Layton, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister appointed Conservative bagmen to cushy jobs in the Senate. If that was not bad enough, we then find them charged with cheating on the spending limits in elections, which is fundamental to fairness in a democratic system. That is what is going on here.

According to the ad agency, Retail Media, invoices used for the in and out scheme must have been altered by someone. Now we have the doctoring of documents to evade the rules.

Doctoring documents to evade spending limits is no administrative decision. Why does he not at least kick them out of his caucus?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Once again, Mr. Speaker, the categorization of this dispute by the leader of the NDP is completely inaccurate. This is a dispute about whether election expenses, which were fully reported, are local or national.

This is a dispute we have had with Elections Canada for five years. Our officials followed the interpretations that were in place at the time. We have altered them since to conform with new interpretations. We will continue to respect all the decisions and rules of Elections Canada.

[Michael Savage, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Federal Court of Appeal eviscerated the flimsy shield that the government has been using to try to justify the in and out scheme and the illegal rebates Conservatives tried to swindle out of taxpayers.

Conservatives call it an administrative dispute. Canadians call it fraud. One MP who signed off on the fraudulent rebate scheme is the current President of the Treasury Board. Ten thousand dollars was funnelled in and out of his riding.

When will taxpayers get back the dirty money that he is sitting on and when will he apologize for his role in this scandal?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member knows, this dispute goes back five years. The Conservative Party has won in one court and another court has ruled otherwise. Regardless, we have a very strong case. We will continue to advocate and defend it in a court of law.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's Quebec lieutenant, the Minister of Natural Resources, was also an active participant in the Conservatives' election fraud.

In his riding of Mégantic—L'Érable, he tried to perform a little sleight of hand trick with $20,000 in false invoices. It did not work, however, since he was caught by Elections Canada. The Conservatives have been caught by the Federal Court of Appeal and the director of public prosecutions.

Will the minister pay back the money owed to the people of Mégantic—L'Érable?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, this is a dispute we have been having with Elections Canada for five years now. We obeyed all of the rules during each election, and therefore, we will continue to advocate and defend our case before the courts.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

Mr. Speaker, if we take a closer look at the $1.3 million that was spent illegally by the Conservatives, we can see that no less than a quarter of a million dollars was stolen in Quebec City, in Beauce, in Beauport, Charlesbourg and Lévis, and in Lotbinière, Louis-Hébert, Portneuf, Charlevoix and Louis-Saint-Laurent.

My question for the minister responsible for the Quebec City region is this: would she not agree that voters in the greater Quebec City region all have the right to be outraged and appalled at having been targeted like this by the Conservatives in their huge election scam?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to share with the hon. member a quote from a distinguished colleague, who I think will be familiar to the Liberal Party, who said, “What's a national ad, what's a local ad? It's nonsense. It's time we got back to things Canadians care about”. That was from an insider and close adviser to the hon. Liberal member for Toronto Centre.

[Maria Minna, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are facing electoral fraud charges from the 2006 election. Almost $20,000 in taxpayer dollars were laundered through the riding of Vaughan. The funds that helped elect the Minister of State for Seniors was dirty money. They even doctored invoices.

As a former police officer, the minister swore an oath to uphold the law. Does he now believe he is above the law, or will he get the dirty money from this scheme out of his riding?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative Party continues to be engaged in this five-year long administrative dispute. One court has ruled in favour of the Conservative Party and another has done otherwise. This is the normal back and forth that one can expect in a five-year long dispute of this nature.

The Conservative Party continues to have a strong case that we will defend and advance in front of the courts.

Quebec City Arena

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

Mr. Speaker, from the very start, the Conservatives, led by the minister responsible for the Quebec City region, have made private funding a requirement for the Quebec City arena project.

At the very moment when interested parties have confirmed they will invest heavily in the project, the Conservatives have flatly refused to take part and are backing out.

Will the minister finally admit that this condition was just a pretext and that from the very start the Conservatives never had any intention of contributing funding to the Quebec City arena?