Debates of Oct. 22nd, 2013

Ethics

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order, please. The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister has the floor.

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

It is certainly nice to be loved, Mr. Speaker.

The Prime Minister has answered these questions very clearly on a number of occasions with all of the information that he had available to him. We are continuing to work closely with authorities on this and we are providing them any information that they require.

In the meantime, there are a lot of issues facing Canada and we are going to continue to move forward with jobs and economic growth for such things as the Canada-European Union free trade agreement, which brings lots of jobs and opportunity across this country.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the only one who can answer those questions is the Prime Minister. Canadians will judge the Prime Minister's silence harshly.

When the Prime Minister spoke to Mike Duffy personally on February 13, was Nigel Wright also present?

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, this question shows that we must continue to work with the authorities. We have answered all the questions on this subject based on the information that we had. Meanwhile, we have continued to work on real Senate reform.

We have put forward a number of proposals to reform the Senate. That is why we are continuing to move those forward, including an elected Senate with term limits, unlike the opposition, which brought forward a silly motion today to apparently end partisanship in the Senate.

There is a lot of things that are confronting this government and the Canadian people, and we will get the job done for them.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, we do not know why the Prime Minister cannot tell the truth. Canadians can handle the truth.

On August 21, long after he resigned, Nigel Wright gave the RCMP a binder full of documents related to the Mike Duffy affair. What is in the binder?

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, what is clear is that we are continuing to work with authorities to get to the bottom of this.

Mr. Wright has accepted sole responsibility for his actions on this. We will continue to answer all the questions to the best of our ability and will work with authorities on this.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the only person who can answer these questions is the Prime Minister.

Did the Prime Minister or anyone else in his office threaten Mike Duffy with expulsion from the Senate if he did not go along with the “cash for repayment” scheme cooked up in his office?

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, again, Nigel Wright has accepted full responsibility on this matter. We have answered all of the questions that have been posed to us to the best of our ability.

What this underlines, though, is that Canadians want accountability in the Senate. That is why we have put on the table a number of reforms, which include Senate elections and term limits for senators. We hope the NDP and the Liberals will join us in bringing that accountability to the Senate.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, in December 2012, the Prime Minister's chief of staff said that several senators had deals cooked up similar to that of Mike Duffy.

Who were they?

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said on a number of occasions and will continue to say, Mr. Wright has accepted full responsibility for this.

The Prime Minister has answered all the questions on this, and we are continuing to work with authorities. In the meantime, there are a lot of issues that we are confronting, including a trade deal with the European Union, including crime and safety in our communities.

There are a lot of things Canadians want us to focus on. We will continue to focus on those issues while working with the authorities to get to the bottom of this.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, how about crime and safety here?

On June 5, the Prime Minister said that he was “not aware” of the results of the audit of Pamela Wallin's expenses.

Was that true? Only the Prime Minister can answer.

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the answer is of course.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, on May 17, when the Prime Minister kicked Pamela Wallin out of the Conservative caucus, was he aware that the audit of Pamela Wallin's expenses had already turned up $40,000 in illegal spending?

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, again, the Leader of the Opposition's questions highlight the importance of our continuing to work with authorities to get to the bottom of this.

We have answered all questions that have been posed to us to the best of our ability. We will continue to do that. At the same time, Nigel Wright has accepted sole responsibility for this. We will continue to move forward with Senate reform. We will continue to move forward with opening opportunity and jobs for Canadians across this country, such as with the Canada-European Union free trade agreement, which will benefit our communities, which will benefit our small businesses.

We are going to continue working on behalf of Canadians.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, what changed? What changed between February 13, when the Prime Minister personally vouched for Pamela Wallin's expenses and May 17 when the Prime Minister kicked Pamela Wallin out of the Conservative caucus?

If the Prime Minister was not aware, as he claims, of that $40,000 in illegal expenses, then what changed?

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, what is clear is this: Canadians expect that all of us, not only in this place but in the Senate, when we are entrusted with their hard-earned tax dollars, will act responsibly. The Prime Minister was quite clear yesterday when he said that not only should the letter of the law be followed but also the spirit of the law.

Most of us, or at least some of us, come from a private sector background. When we are caught, or when individuals are caught padding their expenses, they are fired. They do not have that opportunity in the Senate, and Canadians have said they want change. That is why we have put reforms on the table, which will allow us to elect senators and which will limit them to nine years in office.

Hopefully, they will come on board and vote for those as well.

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

Mr. Speaker, in July, the RCMP revealed that Nigel Wright had in his possession detailed records of Mike Duffy's “travel, meetings, teleconferences, social events, holidays, noteworthy current events, speeches, and political interactions”.

Here is what is troubling. The Prime Minister promised the House that he would turn over all the evidence to the RCMP. Why would he allow a former staffer to walk out with such a trove of evidence when an investigation by the RCMP was taking place?

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, in his own question, the member acknowledges the fact that we are working with the RCMP and authorities to get to the bottom of this. That is what we have committed to. We are going to do that. Mr. Wright has accepted full responsibility for this.

In the meantime, we are going to continue focusing on jobs, hope and economic prosperity for all Canadians. That is what happens when we negotiate a free trade agreement that opens up a market of 500 million people to our small businesses across Canada. This means hundreds of thousands of new jobs and prosperity. That is what we hope they will focus on, as well as the accountability of the Senate and getting to the bottom of this.

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Chris Woodcock, the former PMO issues manager, was sent the February 20 email from Mike Duffy, detailing his deal with Nigel Wright. The Prime Minister misled Parliament when he claimed that no one else in his office knew of the deal. It was a PMO office-wide strategy to subvert the work of a committee by Duffy's silence and cover the whole thing up.

Nixon used to call his cover-up experts “the plumbers”. Why did the Minister of Natural Resources hire Chris Woodcock, the PMO's disgraced plumber, as his chief of staff?

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said on a number of occasions, we are working closely with the authorities. Nigel Wright has accepted full responsibility for his actions on this matter.

In the meantime, I was pleased to hear that the Liberals have tentatively supported the Canada-Europe free trade agreement. We are going to continue to focus on jobs, hope and economic prosperity for all Canadians, because that is what they have asked us to do.

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Wascana, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's story about the PMO deal with Mike Duffy has been contradicted by the police and by Nigel Wright himself. Mr. Wright was no solo freelancer. The Prime Minister's lawyer, his director of issues management and others were also intimately involved. The cover-up went on for months, with threats, hush money, spin lines and a Senate report doctored by Conservatives. It was in the Prime Minister's office, on the Prime Minister's watch.

It is his responsibility, not Nigel Wright's. Why does he not get that basic fact?

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, again—and I will speak a little bit more slowly for the Liberal Party—we are working very closely with authorities. It is very important that we get to the bottom of this.

In the meantime, Conservatives are able to work on more than one thing at a time. We can work on community safety. We can work on expanding markets for our small and medium businesses. We can work on natural resources. In fact, this is Small Business Week across Canada. Small businesses are looking at the opportunities and the advantages that a Canada-EU free trade deal has to offer them. We are going to continue to do that.

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Wascana, SK]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians just do not believe the cover-up. Mr. Wright might try to assume responsibility, but it is fiction. He clearly did not act alone.

We also asked about the paper trail. The Prime Minister said there was none, not a single email, but that too is false. There is a paper trail. It goes on for hundreds of pages, and the key document was in the personal possession of the Prime Minister's director of issues management.

Is it credible that a document proposing possible illegal behaviour by the PMO was not reported to the Prime Minister?

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, again, as I have said on a number of occasions, we are working with authorities. Mr. Wright has accepted full responsibility on this. What this highlights is the importance of our continuing to work with authorities to get to the bottom of this.

In the meantime, it is also Citizenship Week. As somebody whose parents came to this country in the 1960s, I cannot say how proud I am that I have the opportunity to stand in the House of Commons and answer questions.

Let me just say this. Let us all celebrate the fact that, even despite the challenges we face, this is still the best country in the world in which to live.