House of Commons Hansard #84 of the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was agreement.
Nycole Turmel NDPLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, voters want more than that. They want to know that the government is going to protect them from election fraud.
Even the Prime Minister's riding association uses the services of RackNine, one of the firms involved in this affair, so it is understandable that people have doubts about the process.
Is the Prime Minister prepared to force byelections to restore voter confidence?
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, once again, we do not have such information. If the NDP has this sort of information—and I am not certain that it does—then it must pass that information on to Elections Canada.
Nycole Turmel NDPLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, this whole thing is about trying to stop people from voting, whatever the technology.
Call centre employees have now confirmed that they read scripts to misinform voters on behalf of the Conservative Party. Fixing elections means that byelections could be called. People could end up in jail.
The Prime Minister must be tough on crime. Will he commit all the necessary resources to investigate and prosecute and put an end to vote suppression?
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, the calls in question are calls the Conservative Party of Canada placed to its own supporters.
If the NDP has any information that inappropriate calls were placed, and we certainly have information in some cases, which we have given to Elections Canada, then I challenge that party to produce that information and give it to Elections Canada.
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
Mr. Speaker, it is more in sadness than anger that Canadians watch what could be the most comprehensive election fraud in Canadian history and there is not a person in the country that is buying the theory of a lone gunman on the sixth floor of the book depository. This took big money and sophistication to execute.
What is the relationship between the government and the company called Campaign Research and its principals Nick Kouvalis and Richard Ciano? What is the extent of their relationship? What contracts were signed? When were they signed? What were they for?
Dean Del Mastro ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs
Mr. Speaker, all of the statements made by the member in his lead up to his question are patently false.
If the NDP has any information, any evidence at all related to the allegations it has been making over the past days, then it should provide all of that to Elections Canada and allow Elections Canada to conduct a review. We would call on Elections Canada to do that review without delay.
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
Mr. Speaker, we know that Campaign Research is a virtual organ of the Conservative Party and that it has built a career selling American style dirty tricks to Conservative election campaigns, whether for the mayor of Toronto or against the member for Mount Royal.
The Conservative House leader calls this free speech. Impersonating an elections official to interfere with the right of a Canadian to cast his or her ballot is not free speech; it is a criminal offence.
The public has a right to know the full extent of the relationship between the government and Campaign Research and its principals.
Dean Del Mastro ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs
Mr. Speaker, the statements made by the member opposite are outrageous. I say to the member, if he has any evidence, any information at all, he should provide that information to Elections Canada and allow it to conduct an investigation into this matter. We call on members to do that without delay. I would point out to the member and to the House that almost 900,000 more Canadians voted in the 2011 election, a significant increase over the previous election.
Bob Rae Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
Mr. Speaker, it is hard to understand or believe the government's answers. The party that has control of the information with respect to Crestview, with respect to RackNine, with respect to Campaign Research, with respect to in-person calls and robocalls at midnight and during the day, and the government that understands and knows that and has control of that information is over there. They are the ones who have to come forward with the information.
When is the Prime Minister of Canada going to take some degree of personal responsibility for what is taking place in this country?
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, this is the same old Liberal Party making broad, sweeping allegations and frankly in most cases we do not know any details of the bases of these allegations. If the Liberal Party actually has such information, it should provide it to Elections Canada and Elections Canada can investigate it. I can certainly assure the member that on this side we can produce all the documentation necessary on our own activities, but we are interested to see what information the members opposite actually claim to have.
Bob Rae Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Guelph has already presented information. It is the Conservative Party that is in possession of information. It is the Conservative Party and the leadership over there that knows how much money was spent, which contracts were signed, what instructions were given to the callers, what information was provided. The responsibility for that is right over there. That is where it lies. That is where it continues to lie.
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Of course, Mr. Speaker, the Conservative Party reports all information it is required to report to Elections Canada, but it is the Liberal Party and the leader of the Liberal Party making broad, sweeping allegations, exactly the kind of behaviour from the Liberal Party that Canadians rejected in the last election. If the Liberal Party has such information, let it come forward, provide it and give it to Elections Canada.
Bob Rae Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
Mr. Speaker, we will continue to bring forward the information we have. The fact is that the people of this country are still providing information.
My question is for the Prime Minister. So far, we have not heard him say that, as party leader and Prime Minister of Canada, he takes any responsibility for what happened during the 2011 election.
Will the Prime Minister tell us to what degree he, as party leader, is responsible for what happened?
Stephen Harper ConservativePrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, once again, the Liberal Party made these vague allegations. We have no information about this. On the contrary, we deny any involvement in such activities, and I challenge the Liberal Party to provide information to Elections Canada, if such information exists. The Liberal Party appears to be engaging in the same behaviour that voters rejected during the last election.
Alexandre Boulerice NDP Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC
Mr. Speaker, these illegal calls were made by a firm connected to the Conservative Party. The objective was clear: to mislead voters. That is a tactic used by bums, by goons, something reminiscent of the Duplessis era. The owner of RackNine released a picture in which he is holding a Government of Canada cheque and said that it is true, that the government paid his company. Documents prove that the Prime Minister and three of his ministers used RackNine services.
The question is simple. How many cheques did the Conservative Party send to RackNine, and for what services did it send these cheques to that company?
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, the allegations made by the hon. member are false. The reality is that during elections the Conservative Party provides information in a totally honest and ethical fashion. However, if the hon. member has evidence to support his allegations, he should give it to Elections Canada.
Alexandre Boulerice NDP Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC
Mr. Speaker, it is the same Conservative scandal, but with new companies. We learned that 11 ministers worked with RMG and four others worked with Campaign Research. Calls made by firms connected to the Conservative Party gave false instructions to people for a single purpose, namely to discourage them from voting and thus violate their fundamental rights. No minister or member has provided information on this issue.
Who paid for these calls? Who is really responsible for this disgusting scheme? Is it a 23-year-old? Come on. Who is calling the shots in the Conservative Party?
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, instead of providing evidence, the hon. member is merely making noise. The reality is that the Conservative Party of Canada ran an honest election campaign. That is why we won.
If the hon. member has evidence to support his allegations, he should give it to Elections Canada.
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
Mr. Speaker, one more time the Conservatives are caught with their fingerprints all over the broken safe.
Who is involved now? We have the Prime Minister and three cabinet ministers linked to RackNine. We have eleven ministers linked to the Responsive Marketing Group and four cabinet ministers who did work with Campaign Research. They are up to their eyeballs in this.
Are they going to continue to pretend it was some 20-year old ideologue down in Guelph, or are they going to take responsibility and hold a public inquiry so Canadians can find out who is guilty and who should be going to jail?
Dean Del Mastro ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs
Mr. Speaker, that is interesting. As recently as Friday the interim Leader of the Opposition was calling on all members to provide all evidence and information to Elections Canada.
That is what we are saying today, and I would say to this member that Elections Canada has now confirmed that at least 127 late polling station changes were made during the recent election, affecting as many as 1,000 polls. We contacted our supporters to make them aware of those polling station changes so they could cast their votes.
If the member has any evidence to back up any of the allegations he has made, we call upon him to turn it over to Elections Canada and for Elections Canada to look into that matter without delay.
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives do not get it. They are the only party that is being investigated, so they are the ones with the evidence.
The Prime Minister promised that he would raise the ethical bar. Instead he has broken trust with the Canadian people. We are talking about the largest electoral fraud scheme in Canadian history, and the government needs to restore faith with the Canadian people and stand up and turn over the guilty parties so they can be tossed into jail.
Who are they covering up over there?
Dean Del Mastro ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs
Mr. Speaker, once again that is very interesting. The member for Winnipeg Centre was counting ridings yesterday claiming that he had evidence, and now this member says they have no evidence at all to back up any of the claims they have made.
We say to these members very clearly, if they have any evidence, any information at all related to the allegations they are making, they should provide that to Elections Canada and Elections Canada should review that evidence and report back to the House without delay.
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has to fire the 20-year old and get some better talking notes because the wheels of the Conservative Party bus have fallen off.
They have ministers who obviously cannot even read their own bills. Let us look at the Minister of Public Safety who says he now needs an explanation for the more egregious aspects of Bill C-30. Why? It is because he did not have the decency to read the details of this intrusive snooping bill.
How can Canadians trust a minister who cannot even read his own legislation?
Vic Toews ConservativeMinister of Public Safety
Mr. Speaker, Canadian law does not adequately protect law-abiding Canadians from online criminal activity.
The member for Timmins—James Bay said this bill would allow police to track someone's cellphone or to follow someone on the Internet however they wanted, whenever they wanted. Clearly, the member did not do his job. He has not read the bill.
I can perhaps explain the bill to him.
