moved:
That the House:
(a) concur in the report of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner entitled “Peschisolido Report”, tabled on Wednesday, February 5, 2020, and thank him for his work;
(b) resolve that Joe Peschisolido's 10 breaches of the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons cast unacceptable reflections upon the House and its members, amount to an offence against the dignity and authority of the House, and warrant sanction; and
(c) order Joe Peschisolido, former member of the House of Commons, to provide, no later than the 15th sitting day following the adoption of this order, a written apology to the House, in respect of his breaches of the Code by way of a letter addressed to the Speaker, provided that the Speaker shall, at the conclusion of Oral Questions next following its receipt, read it to the House and lay it upon the table.
Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate that I find myself having to move this motion today. Over the last almost six years, we have seen a slow and steady degradation of the confidence Canadians can have in this democratic institution.
The issue of Mr. Peschisolido's conduct and the 10 breaches of the Conflict of Interest Code causes me great concern. They certainly were found to have contravened the rules of this place.
This is a problem that has been caused by a trickle-down effect in the Liberal government. We have a Prime Minister, the head of the Liberal Party, who started out his tenure as leader, as Prime Minister, as head of the government, with an act that broke the law. That is contained in “The Trudeau Report”. This is that famed and unfortunate event, the trip to billionaire island. We know that that first breach of the act, which is the first time a prime minister in Canadian history has been found guilty of breaking ethics laws, had a ripple effect across Parliament and, really, across this country.
However, what followed afterwards was a domino effect that led to Mr. Peschisolido's conduct and the finding of guilt against him. It included multiple investigations and multiple findings by the Ethics Commissioner that members of the Liberal Party, members of the Liberal government, had broken ethics laws.
Bill Morneau, the former finance minister, found himself embroiled in scandal on a number of occasions. The first, of course, was the forgotten corporation and forgotten French villa, which was a disingenuous explanation at best.
We have in this case with Mr. Peschisolido, just as we have in the case of the WE scandal, just as we have in the case of clam scam, and just as we have in the case of so many of the breaches of the ethics, regulations, rules and laws of this place, claims from the Liberal members that it is not true. We heard that from the Prime Minister when he infamously claimed that the story in the Globe and Mail was false, but which later led to the “Trudeau II Report” finding that the Prime Minister had interfered in the criminal prosecution of his friends at SNC-Lavalin.
When we have, rooted at the head of the cabinet table, at the head of the governing Liberal Party, a member who has repeatedly breached ethics laws and is under investigation again, it is no wonder that we see members of his party flout the rules. It is serious when a backbencher does it, and it is serious when the Prime Minister does it.
These behaviours are unchecked, as we have seen when members of the Liberal caucus are given the opportunity to walk out the back door when they are facing serious questions about their conduct, including conduct that has led to criminal charges. There was one for a member who was elected in 2019 alongside the Prime Minister and these Liberals, and one for a member who did not re-offer, but who was elected with these Liberals in 2015 and is now under investigation for breaking the Criminal Code of Canada.
We have seen members of that same caucus ejected for trying to uphold the rules. We saw that with the former president of the Treasury Board, Dr. Jane Philpott. We saw that with the former attorney general, the member for Vancouver Granville, who was booted from caucus and unceremoniously kicked out of cabinet.
Canadians need to know that the integrity of the House and its members is second to none. We have a case here where we do not have one breach, or two, or five. We have 10 breaches of the code that governs members. Ten breaches by this now former member and no consequence will be brought to bear on him. That cannot stand. That cannot be what Canadians see from the House.
In this place we use the term “honourable member”. We refer to each member as “hon. member”, and our honour is not something that is to be called into question by another member. However, when we have the Ethics Commissioner make a finding like this, when we have the Ethics Commissioner continue to identify events that are breaches of the code and where ethics laws have been broken, then it is incumbent on those who took on the responsibility, who swore the oath, to protect the reputation of this democratic institution and all its members. That is why the motion calling for this apology is eminently reasonable and very necessary.
Members need to know that there will be a reckoning if there is a breach of the code, even if they did not re-offer in an election or were not successful in their bid for re-election. This place goes on. It was here long before any of us arrived, and it will be here long after, God willing. While we temporarily occupy the seats for our 338 constituencies, we need to defend this place, so that whoever comes next, whatever party they represent, can be called an hon. member as well. That is not to be called into question by Canadians who wonder was there not that case of this prime minister, or that finance minister, or this individual who broke the code. There was no consequence for them, and members of the House did not see fit to ask for an apology from them.
I am asking all members of the House, across party lines, to do as they would do if they looked across the aisle and saw a member of the opposing party breach the code 10 times. Would we want that member to deliver an apology to the House? We absolutely would. That is what we are looking for here today. It is important that we all take our role seriously and that we take these breaches seriously, because they are. It is important that we do what little we can in terms of seeking restitution, of seeking some repair to the damage to the reputation of this place and its members by soliciting and tabling an apology from Mr. Peschisolido.
We are bound by the code. We must follow the code, and when we fail to follow the code, there must be a reckoning. That is what we are calling for here today.