Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to get clearer answers about the Senate scandal, which involves the Prime Minister's Office and senators.
I asked a question regarding ethics in the Prime Minister's Office. In fact, I asked several questions without ever getting any answers. This evening, I hope that the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs will be able to give me clear and precise answers on the involvement of the Prime Minister's Office in the Mike Duffy scandal, particularly its interference in this affair. I will explain what I mean in my speech today.
According to Canadian parliamentary tradition and according to the Prime Minister, the Senate is an independent institution that should ultimately be a separate branch of the legislative body of the House of Commons.
That is why everyone is wondering what business the Prime Minister's Office has getting involved in Senate affairs. Why did a senator, Ms. Stewart Olsen, say that she was at the service of the Prime Minister's Office?
Here is the fundamental question that he must answer: what business does the Prime Minister's Office have getting involved in the affairs of the Senate, an institution that, according to the Prime Minister, is independent from the legislative body of the House of Commons? The Prime Minister's Office should never have been involved in such a scandal.
When we learned about the scandal surrounding the repayment of Senator Mike Duffy's expenses, the Prime Minister immediately hit the roof saying that he had nothing to do with it, that he knew nothing about it and that he was not responsible for what happened in the Senate.
Unfortunately, a few days later, the Prime Minister changed his story by saying that Nigel Wright was responsible and was taking all the blame. Today, we want to know who was aware of this orchestrated scheme. Whose hands are dirty?
Now that we know that, unfortunately, the Conservatives interfere in Senate affairs, we need to know who in the Prime Minister's Office is responsible for breaking the fundamental rules of our Parliament.