House of Commons Hansard #53 of the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was havens.
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeMinister of State (Democratic Reform)
Mr. Speaker, the fact that a comedy show could execute this kind of fraud is evidence of how easy it is to carry it out. He makes a joke out of the whole process when he refuses to acknowledge what Elections Canada said, that there are errors with one in six cases of voter information cards that are sent out, which are allowing people to vote more than once or in ridings in which they do not live.
There have been documented cases of violations in this regard. We are putting an end to it.
Thomas Mulcair NDPLeader of the Opposition
Mr. Speaker, documented cases like the bogus information from the member of Parliament for Mississauga—Streetsville is all the member has.
The unfair elections act requires Elections Canada investigators to warn elections fraud suspects that they are under investigation. This would be new.
We want to know why. Is it because most of the suspects happen to be Conservatives?
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeMinister of State (Democratic Reform)
Mr. Speaker, this is a procedural safeguard that Elections Canada already follows in its own policy manual.
Dominic LeBlanc Liberal Beauséjour, NB
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives' lack of honesty is such that they are announcing more infrastructure money for municipalities, but will reduce these funds by 90% on the first of April.
We have to make investments in order to grow our economy so that the middle class can benefit. Instead of investing, the government is making cuts and pretending to invest. How can the Conservatives believe that cutting infrastructure spending will help the economy?
Peter Braid ConservativeParliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure and Communities
Mr. Speaker, I would have two messages for the Liberal Party. The first is that contrary to the Liberals' belief, budgets do not balance themselves. The second is that contrary to their beliefs, money does not grow on trees.
On this side of the House, we will balance the budget by 2015, and we are making record investments in infrastructure with stable and predictable funding over the next decade. That is leadership.
Dominic LeBlanc Liberal Beauséjour, NB
Mr. Speaker, it is predictable all right; it is down 90%.
When a government is responsible for the weakest economic growth since R.B. Bennett, maybe the member will agree that the Conservatives clearly are doing something wrong. The only solution they can think of is to cut infrastructure spending by 90%. That is not what they promised Canadians.
Instead of planning to help our economy grow so that all Canadians, especially the middle class, can benefit, the Conservatives hide their cut as a future broken promise for money they will never actually spend.
Why is the government more interested in creative accounting than investing in infrastructure to support the Canadian economy?
Peter Braid ConservativeParliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure and Communities
Mr. Speaker, it is very clear that the buttons on that member's calculator are not working properly.
In our budget last year, we announced the longest and the largest infrastructure plan in Canada's history. Since we became government, we have tripled investments in infrastructure.
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities welcomes our investments over the next decade. It welcomes the fact that over 70% of the funds will be dedicated to municipal infrastructure priorities.
We are getting the job done.
Dominic LeBlanc Liberal Beauséjour, NB
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives' 10-year infrastructure plan is nothing more than a five-year cut, followed by a wishy-washy five-year guarantee for money they know very well may never get spent.
So when household debt is at an all-time high and our economic growth is decreasing year over year, the Conservatives are only promising to increase infrastructure spending in 2019. It does not matter what calculator one punches that into, it is too far down the road.
Why is the government cutting funding for infrastructure, for highways, roads, bridges, and sewer systems, which the municipalities need today?
Peter Braid ConservativeParliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure and Communities
Mr. Speaker, in addition to our record investments, an important component of the new building Canada plan is the gas tax fund.
Here is what our government has done with respect to the gas tax fund: we have extended it; we have doubled it; we have legislated it; and moving forward, we will index the gas tax fund. There is over $22 billion for municipal and provincial infrastructure priority needs specifically through the gas tax fund.
These are record investments. The municipalities and the provinces welcome this.
Irene Mathyssen NDP London—Fanshawe, ON
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of State for Democratic Reform keeps making the bizarre claim that Elections Canada's efforts to engage voters have actually caused voter turnout to decline, yet he has failed to provide a single shred of evidence to defend this outlandish claim.
Will the minister now table proof, real proof, of the causal link he claims exists between Elections Canada's voter information programs and declining voter turnout?
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeMinister of State (Democratic Reform)
Mr. Speaker, the causal link is actually with the misdirection of the publicity away from the basic information that people need to cast their ballots. According to Elections Canada's own information, 60% of people who do not vote fail to do so because of everyday life issues, such as being out of town. It might help those people to know that they can vote early. The vast majority of young people do not know that, however. That is just one causal example of how better basic information would help people cast their ballots if they had that information in their hands. The fair elections act will give it to them.
Irene Mathyssen NDP London—Fanshawe, ON
Mr. Speaker, the minister is apparently having trouble understanding what the word “causal” means.
Let us see if he can better explain his bizarre comment about fake voter ID. Could the Minister of Democratic Reform table actual examples of the use of fake voter IDs? We are looking for real examples here, not ones performed for a satirical news show. Does the minister have any?
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeMinister of State (Democratic Reform)
Mr. Speaker, actually, the ones that were done for the satirical show were real examples, for which Elections Canada had to sign compliance agreements with the violators who undertook them. They called it Elections Canada's 2 for 1 voting special. Each of them received two voting cards and each of them voted twice.
When there is an error in 1 in 6 of voting cards that go out, that is a risk to our electoral system. We will protect 39 other forms of ID so that Canadians can vote, but we will prevent fraudulent voting from happening.
Nycole Turmel NDP Hull—Aylmer, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives' botched reform of the Canada Elections Act will prevent the chief electoral officer from hiring technical experts or specialists without the approval of the Treasury Board. That basically means that Elections Canada could not have hired experts to investigate the Conservatives' fraudulent calls unless the Conservative minister in charge of the Treasury Board had signed off on it.
Does the minister really believe that this provision is appropriate?
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeMinister of State (Democratic Reform)
Mr. Speaker, this provision already exists for other officers of Parliament who work independently of Parliament and have to investigate both Canadians and politicians. This provision is normal and already exists in the legislation.
Nycole Turmel NDP Hull—Aylmer, QC
Mr. Speaker, the reform proposed by the Conservatives requires that Elections Canada not retain voter data for more than a year. With that type of provision in place, it is possible that the fraudulent calls would not have been investigated because the data would have been destroyed too quickly.
Why does the minister not want the data to be retained for a longer period of time?
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeMinister of State (Democratic Reform)
Mr. Speaker, I think she is speaking about the voter contact registry, which will require anyone making an automated or mass call to make, for the first time ever, a formal registry with the CRTC. That would provide data that investigators could rely upon in the event there are allegations after the fact and, by the way, so that authorities can track calls as they are happening.
That being said, there will also be a year-long requirement for the scripts of those calls to be kept around. That is a requirement that does not currently exist, but will exist in the future under the fair elections act so that we can track fraudulent calls by political impostors.
Nycole Turmel NDP Hull—Aylmer, QC
Mr. Speaker, electoral reform is very controversial. Tens of thousands of Canadians have signed a petition asking for it to be amended. The Chief Electoral Officer, Marc Mayrand, pointed out numerous issues with the reform. Experts from across the country have identified certain changes that should be made.
The minister cannot deny that this reform is far from perfect. Will the minister amend his reform and integrate the concerns raised by experts and the public?
Pierre Poilievre ConservativeMinister of State (Democratic Reform)
Mr. Speaker, that is clearly the work of a committee. We will hear witnesses and will agree to worthwhile amendments.
Earlier, the leader of the NDP suggested that it was somehow unusual that the investigator would contact the subject of an investigation. This is what the current information bulletin says: “When an investigation is launched, it is customary to contact or meet with the parties who are the subject of the complaint...”. That is the current policy of Elections Canada.
Ève Péclet NDP La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
Mr. Speaker, we learned that Senator David Tkachuk, one of the Prime Minister's henchmen in the Senate, asked Deloitte auditors about the contents of the report on Mike Duffy just the day before the report was released. He also asked for information about how the investigation was conducted.
Does the Prime Minister truly believe that such interference on the part of his senator is acceptable?
Paul Calandra ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs
Mr. Speaker, as I have said and as the Prime Minister has already said, these three auditors appeared before a Senate committee and they verified that the work they had done could be held in the highest of confidence and that the Senate could accept these reports confident that they had done their work without interference.
Ève Péclet NDP La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
Mr. Speaker, oddly, on March 25 of last year, the same day that Deloitte told Senator Tkachuk it had a complete report with or without Mike Duffy's collaboration, Nigel Wright wrote a cheque to the Conservative senator for $90,000. What a coincidence.
Did anyone in the Prime Minister's Office talk to David Tkachuk or instruct him to do anything in particular on March 25 of last year?
Paul Calandra ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs
Mr. Speaker, the answer is the same in French. The three auditors confirmed that the report was confidential.
At the same time, senators and the House can have confidence in the report that was tabled.
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
Mr. Speaker, there is more news on the government's interference in a Senate audit.
On March 25, Senator Tkachuk contacted Deloitte and asked what would be said in the audit if Mike Duffy refused to co-operate. That very same day, Nigel Wright in the Prime Minister's Office gave Mike Duffy $90,000, and the very next day Mike Duffy told the audit he was refusing to co-operate.
Does the Prime Minister really expect Canadians to believe that Senator Tkachuk's interference in the Deloitte audit was just a coincidence?
Paul Calandra ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs
Mr. Speaker, the three auditors appeared before a Senate committee and confirmed that the report was kept completely confidential and that senators and the House could have confidence in the report they tabled.