House of Commons Hansard #265 of the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was seniors.

Topics

EthicsOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

Liberal

Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC

Mr. Speaker, the stories keep changing.

Canadians are demanding answers from the government, and they—

EthicsOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

Conservative

The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer

Order. The hon. member for Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel now has the floor.

EthicsOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

Liberal

Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are demanding answers from the government. All they are getting are more stories about secret deals and secret funds. Even the formerly Conservative member for Edmonton—St. Albert said, “I think Canadians want to know what was the quid pro quo.... It’s inappropriate at so many levels.”

The PMO fund was likely secret for two reasons: the Conservatives did not want Canadians to know who was handing out the money or who was getting paid.

When will the government release even one piece of evidence to back one of its many stories?

EthicsOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

Nepean—Carleton Ontario

Conservative

Pierre Poilievre ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport

Mr. Speaker, the evidence is that the Conservative fund, just like the funds for all political parties, are audited every single year, that our finances are submitted to Elections Canada for approval year after year and that all of the expenses in question are covered by a single, solitary fund.

That might seem like a strange idea to the Liberal Party, because when it was in government it used taxpayer money to engage in partisan activity. In fact, we still have $40 million in taxpayer money that is missing because of an elaborate kickback scheme designed to steal money from taxpayers and put it into Liberal Party coffers.

That is not how we do business on this side of the House.

EthicsOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

Liberal

Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister and his team decided set up a secret fund.

Canadians are wondering whether the money in that fund was reported according to Elections Canada rules. Will the Conservatives publicly release the expenses related to this fund? If they do not want to tell us what this fund is for, are we to assume that it is used for illegal purposes?

EthicsOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

Nepean—Carleton Ontario

Conservative

Pierre Poilievre ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member wants to know if this money is reported to Elections Canada. The answer is yes.

EthicsOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

NDP

Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe NDP Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC

Mr. Speaker, how much money has been spent from this secret fund, managed by the Prime Minister's chief of staff, since the Conservatives have been in power?

EthicsOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

Nepean—Carleton Ontario

Conservative

Pierre Poilievre ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport

Mr. Speaker, the fund in question does not exist.

EthicsOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

NDP

Rosane Doré Lefebvre NDP Alfred-Pellan, QC

Mr. Speaker, did Nigel Wright say good-bye to his boss because there was no more money in the secret slush fund?

How many PMO employees were aware that this secret slush fund existed?

EthicsOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

Nepean—Carleton Ontario

Conservative

Pierre Poilievre ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport

Mr. Speaker, people cannot be aware of something that does not exist.

EthicsOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

NDP

Annick Papillon NDP Québec, QC

Mr. Speaker, one thing is certain: the NDP does not have a slush fund to buy the silence of fraudsters, because Canadians know that the NDP is all about transparency.

How much money was in the slush fund that was controlled by Nigel Wright and is now managed by Ray Novak?

EthicsOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

Nepean—Carleton Ontario

Conservative

Pierre Poilievre ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport

Mr. Speaker, there is no such fund.

EthicsOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

NDP

Alexandre Boulerice NDP Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC

Mr. Speaker, a one million dollar slush fund cannot change the world, but it can help to buy the silence of senators who cheated the system.

I have another very simple question, and we will see whether the Conservatives will continue to deny the facts and the evidence, whether they will complicate their lives or whether they will finally answer the question.

Has the Conservative slush fund ever been used to resolve a dispute with members of the Prime Minister's Office? I am waiting for an answer.

EthicsOral Questions

11:25 a.m.

Nepean—Carleton Ontario

Conservative

Pierre Poilievre ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport

Mr. Speaker, the NDP is asking questions without getting their facts straight. I have answered a number of times that there is no such fund. The NDP should listen to the answers so that they do not keep asking misguided questions.

EthicsOral Questions

11:30 a.m.

NDP

Craig Scott NDP Toronto—Danforth, ON

Mr. Speaker, I am listening. Let us look at the reality.

Conservatives are skipping town to evade accountability and they do not understand the difference between the Government of Canada and the Conservative Party, which they treat as a branch, so it is no wonder we do not believe their denials today.

My question is simple: was Nigel Wright reimbursed in whole or in part from this fund, either before or after he gave $90,000 to Mike Duffy?

EthicsOral Questions

11:30 a.m.

Nepean—Carleton Ontario

Conservative

Pierre Poilievre ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport

Mr. Speaker, the answer is no.

EthicsOral Questions

11:30 a.m.

NDP

Craig Scott NDP Toronto—Danforth, ON

Mr. Speaker, if I were a Conservative—

EthicsOral Questions

11:30 a.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh!

EthicsOral Questions

11:30 a.m.

Conservative

The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer

Order.

Order, please. The hon. member for Toronto—Danforth.

EthicsOral Questions

11:30 a.m.

NDP

Craig Scott NDP Toronto—Danforth, ON

Mr. Speaker, I am still proceeding on the premise that the government is not believable until it produces proof.

I note that the parliamentary secretary failed to answer the question, even though he thought he answered it. His track record on behalf of the government speaks for itself.

There is one follow-up question about the slush fund. Does this fund hold any equities or investments?

EthicsOral Questions

11:30 a.m.

Nepean—Carleton Ontario

Conservative

Pierre Poilievre ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport

Mr. Speaker, there is one Conservative Party fund that reimburses all partisan expenses related to the Conservative Party of Canada. It is controlled by the Conservative Party, in contrast to the false reporting from CBC yesterday.

We have been clear about this today and we were clear about this yesterday, and let me say that there is stated evidence from both parties that they use exactly the same practice.

EthicsOral Questions

11:30 a.m.

NDP

Jack Harris NDP St. John's East, NL

Mr. Speaker, does the Prime Minister's Office keep any records about disbursements from this fund, and will the government make these records public?

EthicsOral Questions

11:30 a.m.

Nepean—Carleton Ontario

Conservative

Pierre Poilievre ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport

Mr. Speaker, that is the job of the party. The party keeps track of the expenditures on its fund, and then all of those expenditures are audited annually and reported to Elections Canada.

EthicsOral Questions

11:30 a.m.

NDP

Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON

Mr. Speaker, only the Conservatives have a secret fund controlled by their chief of staff and only Conservatives—

EthicsOral Questions

11:30 a.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh!