Debates of June 10th, 2013

Ethics

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

Mr. Speaker, I think the Conservatives' answers are short because they cannot get their story straight about a secret million-dollar fund that was administered by the same guy who wrote a secret $90,000 cheque to get a rule-breaking senator to keep quiet.

Now, the member for Ajax—Pickering actually went on national television and said, “...we don't think it would serve the public interest very well to have...cheques being shown in front of television cameras...”.

Why not? If they have nothing to hide, why will they not cough up the cheque and be clean with Canadians?

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

Mr. Speaker, when the Conservative Party of Canada has expenses for partisan purposes, including those of its leader, they are paid by the Conservative Party of Canada. In the NDP, those members say they too have a party function to cover costs of this nature. I do not know if they want to stand up in the House of Commons and demand an inquiry into their own party financing, but this is the practice of every party and has been for decades.

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

Mr. Speaker, the poor old guy over there; it looked as if his battery was running down on him.

Speaking of lowering the ethical bar, the Liberal leader spent the weekend defending the abuse of public trust in the Senate. He mollycoddled Mac Harb and then he said that Patrick Brazeau's actions were “an honest mistake”.

Not to be outdone, Conservative Senator Tkachuk was able to lower the bar even further. He favourably compared the Conservative Senate scandal to the Liberal sponsorship scandal saying, “Well, the Liberal Party survived. We will survive”.

Is this the new Conservative yardstick for measuring accountability: survival?

[James Moore, Conservative, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, again, the Conservative yardstick for moving forward and going into the 2015 campaign is our demonstrated record of results for Canadians, including one million new jobs across this country.

Specifically on the issue of the Senate, Canadians do want action. They want a party that puts forward a serious plan. We have legislation before the House, but the NDP has no plan whatsoever that it has put before Parliament. It is all rhetoric and no action.

At the end the day, Canadians know there is only one party in this country that has consistently delivered good news and solid results for all Canadians, and it is the Conservative Party of Canada. Our record of one million new jobs and the lowest taxes in 50 years is getting it done.

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

Mr. Speaker, we in the NDP have an action plan for the Senate. We will do away with it and get rid of the senators who are cheating the system. That is our action plan.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence said that it would not serve the public interest to produce the cheque Nigel Wright wrote to Mike Duffy.

Does the government agree with that statement, which confirms the Conservatives' desire to cover this up, or will it produce the cheque, which is in its possession?

[James Moore, Conservative, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague knows very well that an investigation is already under way.

The Auditor General is looking into this matter, and so are the Ethics Commissioner and the RCMP. I am sure that all the information will be made available to the investigating authorities. There is a process in place. My hon. colleague should respect the process.

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

Mr. Speaker, I see that the Conservatives are following the Liberals' how-to-survive-a-scandal guide to the letter. In the end, it is the same old story. Red scandals have simply been replaced by blue scandals.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence said:

I don't think..., we don't think it would serve the public interest very well....

The use of the pronoun “we” is very telling in many ways.

Who else, apart from him and Conservative colleagues, members and staff, believes that the $90,000 cheque should not be made public? Who else?

[James Moore, Conservative, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, as I just said, there is a process in place and all the information will be made available to the investigating authorities.

The Ethics Commissioner and the Auditor General will look at all the information available on this matter. They will make their findings public and all of the information will come out.

[Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe, NDP, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives claim that the PMO's secret fund was not used to buy Mike Duffy's silence. However, was it used to reimburse whoever bought Mike Duffy's silence? That is still a mystery.

We know that the Prime Minister's Office had access to a million-dollar fund provided by the Conservative Party. This fund was managed by Nigel Wright.

Did he use this money to repay himself, yes or no?

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

Mr. Speaker, as I just said, the Conservative Party has a separate fund to cover partisan expenditures.

The leader of the Conservative Party is also the Prime Minister. This is neither a mystery nor a secret.

The hon. member should focus on the economy and job creation. That is our priority, and we will continue to focus on those issues.

[Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe, NDP, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Mr. Speaker, that is quite amusing. Before, we were imagining things, but now it is more of a secret. There is no secret fund according to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport, but there is one according to his Defence colleague. Come on, the other side is either making things up or just playing with words to try to mislead Canadians, which would be nothing new.

Did someone in the Prime Minister's Office discuss the possibility of using the Conservative Party fund, which was managed by the PMO, to pay Mike Duffy's expense claims or reimburse Nigel Wright, yes or no?

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

Mr. Speaker, the answer is no.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, now we have Conservative parliamentary secretaries directly contradicting each other about the secret Conservative hush fund. There are no answers on the secret Wright-Duffy payoff cheque, no answers on the Senate whitewash report and now no answers on widespread domestic snooping on law-abiding Canadians.

I know my Conservative friends are obviously a bit tired, but they should try to work a little harder on getting their stories straight. How many more scandals are Conservatives going to inflict on Canadians before they show a little contrition, apologize and fix this mess?

[James Moore, Conservative, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, as my colleague knows very well, we have put forward all the information that will be put forward to the Ethics Commissioner and the Auditor General, who are looking into this matter. That is the way Canadians expect things to be dealt with in this regard.

In terms of the Senate, we have put forward 11 accountability measures to ensure that these things do not happen in the future. Better than that, of course, we have legislation before Parliament to have term limits for senators and elections for senators going forward. We have an actual plan, versus New Democrats who just yell concepts and yell words but do not actually have a plan to do anything whatsoever to address the concerns of Canadians with regard to proper reform of Canada's upper house.

We have a plan. They have noise. That is why Canadians elect Conservatives and not New Democrats.

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it has been nearly a month since Nigel Wright wrote Mike Duffy a cheque for $90,000.

Since then, the government has been blocking attempts to get at the real story. They say that it was simply a private transaction between friends.

Canadians are not buying it. They know that it was a botched attempt to prevent a Senate expenses audit and put an end to a political crisis for the Prime Minister.

When will we see a copy of the $90,000 cheque?

[James Moore, Conservative, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, the NDP has already asked the question, and I have already answered it.

What taxpayers really want to know is when Mac Harb will be writing a $50,000 cheque to repay the money he stole from Canadian taxpayers. That is the cheque people really want to see.

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the government wants to show us that cheque today. Why is it not doing so?

Can the government tell us that it is doing everything in its power to ensure that no document will be destroyed, including Senator Duffy's February 20 email? When will the government turn over that information so that we can put an end to this scandal and give Canadians a chance to see all of the documents for themselves?

[James Moore, Conservative, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, as I just said, the Prime Minister said that we will turn over any information requested by the RCMP, the Auditor General or the Ethics Commissioner.

However, equally, Canadians also want to see the information on Senator Mac Harb taking $50,000 from taxpayers. We also want to see Senator Merchant and her $1.7-million fund that she has sheltered from paying taxes in Canada. We want to know about Liberals and the way in which they are abusing their responsibility to be up front and forthright with taxpayers when it comes to their responsibilities.

Liberals “do as I say, not as I do”, and it is typical of that party.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Say it outside, James. We know you are lying.

[Yvonne Jones, Liberal, Labrador, NL]

Mr. Speaker, Conservative ethical breaches keep piling up. Peter Penashue's campaign finance problems; well, that was Reg Bowers' fault. Illegal use of the Conservative database in the last election; that was Pierre Poutine's fault. Mike Duffy's improper expense claims; a staffer gets thrown under the bus. Wright's $90,000 was not just to cover Duffy's expenses but to cover up for the government.

The Conservatives claim to stand for personal responsibility, but when will they start taking that responsibility?

[James Moore, Conservative, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages]

Mr. Speaker, indeed we have answered that question very well. As I said to her colleague from Montreal, all the information will be provided to the Ethics Commissioner and the Auditor General as they are examining this matter. Again, if the Liberals want to demonstrate the forthrightness they claim to represent here in the House of Commons, we would like to see a cheque for $50,000 from Mac Harb back to the taxpayers for the money he ripped off for being the Senator for Ottawa Centre and yet claiming a living allowance for Ottawa Centre. It would be great if the Liberals would indeed walk their talk.

Aerospace Industry

[Hélène LeBlanc, NDP, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians were tremendously proud of and inspired by Chris Hadfield's time as commander of the International Space Station.

Unfortunately, for the past year here on earth, the Conservatives have continued to cut jobs at the Canadian Space Agency, scientists' jobs in particular.

Were cuts at the Canadian Space Agency and the resulting brain drain brought up when the Prime Minister met with Commander Hadfield?

[Christian Paradis, Conservative, Minister of Industry and Minister of State (Agriculture)]

Mr. Speaker, our government has a strong record regarding support for the Canadian space sector. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Commander Chris Hadfield for his exemplary service, which is a source of Canadian pride.

Commander Hadfield made an impressive contribution to the space mission, and he renewed appreciation for Canada's expertise. His efforts put Canadian ingenuity back in the spotlight and piqued the world's interest.

This is Canada's 50th year in space, and our government remains committed to keeping Canada at the forefront of the space industry.

[Dan Harris, NDP, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the minister has it wrong. We have yet again another example of Conservatives dismantling scientific research. New Democrats are proud to welcome Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield back to Canada. Unfortunately, Conservatives are welcoming him home by gutting research capacity at the Canadian Space Agency. Thirty highly qualified researchers lost their jobs just in the past year.

How do shortsighted Conservative cuts to vital research capacity improve Canada's space program?

[Christian Paradis, Conservative, Minister of Industry and Minister of State (Agriculture)]

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, Canada has a strong record of support for Canada's space sector. It is an honour for me to be standing up in this House to thank Commander Hadfield for his exemplary service, of which all Canadians can be proud.

Beyond that, there were key files on which we took leadership. I can speak about the participation of the country on the International Space Station and the RADARSAT Constellation mission too. I hope we will have the support of the opposition. These are real tangible benefits, and this is what would allow us to remain a leader in the space sector.