Debates of Feb. 29th, 2012

41st General Election

[Dean Del Mastro, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, we have heard the member for Timmins--James Bay indicate that the NDP has no evidence. We just heard the leader of the opposition indicate that they have made all their evidence public. I guess we would have to conclude then, based on what they have made public, that this is nothing but an unsubstantiated smear campaign on behalf of the NDP, and they should withdraw all their comments in this regard.

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, let us get this straight. We have the gun sitting here and we have this plume of smoke hanging over the gun, but the Conservatives say there is no proof that the smoke is in any way related to the gun.

The proof is coming in by the hour, every day, to our offices from constituents reporting that their right to cast their ballot was interfered with on election day.

We have asked the government to table all documents related to their relationship with RackNine, RMG, and that other outfit, Campaign Research. Where are all the invoices, all the documents, and all the contracts that the government has with those contractors?

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister.

[Dean Del Mastro, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, once again, that is very interesting coming from the opposition. Those members are saying they have no evidence and could we provide them with some. This is an unsubstantiated smear campaign led by the opposition parties. They have absolutely nothing to back up what they have said.

The Conservative Party of Canada ran a clean and ethical campaign. We won the support of Canadians from coast to coast to coast.

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, that is what the Conservatives said for three years about the in and out campaign until they had to pay a $50,000 fine. We will see what happens.

We have reported to Elections Canada on four ridings, Eglinton—Lawrence, St. Paul's, Winnipeg South Centre and Mount Royal. Jewish voters there received phone calls on Friday night or Saturday from people claiming to be members of the Liberal Party in support of the Liberal Party. These can only be described as harassing calls.

If it happened in one riding, it might just be one riding. If it happened in two, that might be just a coincidence. When it happens in four, there has to be an explanation. What is the explanation?

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as I have become aware, apparently Elections Canada received virtually none of these complaints during the campaign outside of Guelph. Now it is receiving all of these complaints nine months after the election.

We have detailed information. All of the information about calls placed by our campaign is available to Elections Canada. That member should provide similar detailed information. If he cannot do that, we will simply conclude this is yet again another smear by a Liberal Party that lost the election.

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in addition to the calls made to Jewish voters, we have another pattern of calls that were made not to just four but to over thirty ridings. People received calls, again from people claiming to be canvassing on behalf of the Liberal Party, at midnight, at 11:30 p.m., at two o'clock in the morning claiming to be saying let us vote for the Liberals.

If this happened in one riding, we would say it was just a prank. If it happened in two, it might be a coincidence. When it happens in over 30 ridings, the explanation has to come from the Conservative Party with respect to what was going on. That is what is required.

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, what the Liberal Party will not accept is that the overwhelming majority of Jewish voters voted for the Conservative Party of Canada.

If the member has any proof of any such campaign he should provide that detailed information to Elections Canada, as we certainly have done and are prepared to do. Otherwise, in the absence of information, I will just conclude that nine months after an election these are smears that have appeared out of nowhere. This is a typical Liberal tactic. Where is the beef? Where is the proof?

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have given clear examples today. First, Jewish voters received harassing phone calls. In over 30 ridings, voters received calls that can only be qualified as harassing. Then I gave another very clear example: people were told to go to vote at a location where there was no polling station.

I want to make one thing crystal clear to the Prime Minister: he and his government have that information; the opposition does not. We can give examples, but it is up to the government to answer for this.

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, once again, Elections Canada has received our information. As for the Liberal Party, it is clear that these complaints, coming nine months after the election, are nothing but another smear campaign. This is a very old Liberal tactic and the reason why that party keeps losing elections. That party simply cannot accept that it lost the election.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the fabulous story concocted by the Conservatives is beginning to fall apart. Now a Conservative has come forward and is asking that the true identity of the guilty party who orchestrated all these fraudulent phone calls be revealed.

On one television station, the parliamentary secretary said that his party was not conducting an investigation. Five minutes later, on another station, he said that the party was conducting an investigation. He is so caught up in his tangled web that he no longer knows whether or not an investigation is being conducted. He does not even know whether Edmonton East exists.

Have the Conservatives discovered the identity of Pierre Poutine or have they used so many other imaginary names that they are unable to keep them all straight?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, once again, I am going to drown out the noise the opposition is making with the government's facts. I have in my hands the Chief Electoral Officer's report on the 41st general election. He said that no conduct was reported that would call into question the integrity of the election results as a whole or in a given riding.

The opposition is not providing any evidence to back up these allegations. We must therefore conclude that the opposition members are trying to explain why Canadians did not vote for them.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, that is a bold statement from a party that did not receive 40% of the popular vote.

If I wanted to solve the mystery, I would say that I suspect it was Pierre Poutine of Separatist Street in Joliette with a RackNine cellphone.

Unfortunately, we are not playing Clue. This is not a game. It is not just a young person in Guelph who was making phone calls. It is a fundamental attack on democracy. It is an attack on the right to vote. It is a hijacking of an election and election fraud. Calls were made between the Conservative Party offices and RackNine.

What did the Conservatives have to say to each other? Why are they hiding things? What did they have to say to RackNine?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, we are aware of just one investigation in one riding. The Conservative Party is co-operating with Elections Canada in this regard. Other than that, we have only allegations made by partisan Liberals and New Democrats without any evidence. And without evidence, we must conclude that this is simply a case of sore losers trying to explain why Canadians overwhelmingly rejected their parties.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives have to do better than hide behind the excuses of Pierre Poutine. Canadians want to know who is behind him and who is behind the electoral fraud.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. I would like to ask the member for Timmins—James Bay to assure the House that he was not referring to any member of this House by that term.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, certainly the New Democrats did not make up the name “Pierre Poutine”, the Conservative Party did. I just want to be clear--

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please.

I have asked the member to assure the House that he was not referring to any member of the House by that term. He has one more opportunity to do so.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, absolutely.

I think this gets to the bottom of what we are concerned about. Yesterday I asked a specific question about bogus phone calls into Edmonton East. The Conservatives said that they were just letting voters know about polling changes. Well last night Elections Canada confirmed to the NDP that not a single polling station was moved in that riding.

I would like to ask the government why it provided inaccurate information to Parliament. Will the Conservatives come clean about the monkey-wrenching in Edmonton East and who is behind it?

[Dean Del Mastro, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, it is very interesting that on Monday, this very member, the member for Timmins—James Bay, said that NDP members had no evidence, none whatsoever, to support the claims that they were making. In fact, I would argue that this member has no evidence whatsoever with respect to Edmonton East.

What I would say is that this member and the members of his party have conducted a completely unsubstantiated smear campaign against our party. If they have evidence, produce it. Otherwise, Canadians are left to conclude that this is nothing but a party conducting a full-blown, unsubstantiated smear campaign.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, that is pretty rich from a guy who yesterday claimed that Edmonton East did not even exist.

There is only one party that has been convicted of electoral hijinks in this country: the Conservative Party. There is only one party where all the top operatives have been charged and convicted of breaking the electoral laws of this country, and that is the Conservative Party. There is only one party that is behind 30-some investigations right now, and that is the Conservative Party, but it is telling Canada that it is the victim.

Conservative members need to start coming clean with Canadians and stop misrepresenting the facts.

[Dean Del Mastro, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite has just made a number of claims, a number of statements, that he would not make outside this House because they are entirely false.

The member has conducted an unsubstantiated smear campaign. I can say that unequivocally because the member has provided no evidence, none whatsoever, to back up his claims.

The member said earlier this week that they have no evidence. Those are not my words, those are the words of the member. He said that his party has no evidence. If those members have no evidence and they are making these statements, we can only conclude that this is an unsubstantiated smear campaign by the NDP.

[Alexandrine Latendresse, NDP, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the allegations have to do with the Conservative Party. It is up to the Conservatives to provide the information.

The Chief Electoral Officer asked to have the power to demand documents from political parties in order to ensure compliance with the electoral law. However, at the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, the Conservatives told him, “no way”. The Conservatives ask other parties to provide their documents, but they refuse to give the Chief Electoral Officer the tools to be able to detect fraud.

What are the Conservatives trying to hide? Their ties to RackNine and RMG?