Mr. Speaker, members in this place have been extremely frustrated and embarrassed by the lack of accountability of the Liberal government to comply with basic orders of Parliament over the last year. Then the Liberals go out into the public and say, “Oh, you know, Parliament has been ground to a halt because of...,” and we can insert any reason other than the government's complete unwillingness to adhere to the laws of this place.
I stand here tonight deeply frustrated. Colleagues in this place have voted to release documents related to a variety of different scandals this government is involved in. One is related to 400 million dollars' worth of potential misappropriations related to this green slush fund.
Earlier this year, I asked a question about a sitting minister of the Crown being involved in a company that was involved in misappropriations and malfeasance. Even if we dispose of this privilege motion related to the green slush fund that we have been seized with for weeks, because the government refuses to turn documents over, we are going to be seized with another privilege motion afterwards related to a sitting minister of the Crown.
His business associate said things like, “Oh, it was autocorrect; it wasn't Randy, it was Shpandy.” It is so ridiculous. We are at the point of preposterousness.
I cannot believe I have to rise in this place to ask for clarification when the government should just be handing over documents so that the members of the opposition, and frankly, even members of the governing party who have a fiduciary obligation to hold the government to account, can actually just get on with that business.
I have been doing this a hot minute. I have been very blessed to be the voice of the residents of Calgary Nose Hill in this place. Now I have to stand here and argue the question of a sitting minister of the Crown handing over documents related to his business with his partner saying that, no, it was not him, the other Randy; it was somebody with autocorrect, who was Shpandy. I know how ridiculous that sounds, because it is ridiculous. It is preposterous. It is a mockery of Canadian democracy.
To anybody who stands up from the government who tries to defend this ridiculousness: it is embarrassing and it is preposterous. It is a mockery of every Canadian who pays taxes, who votes and who thinks this place functions.
I cannot believe I am here having to say, “Please, government, comply with the privilege motion where you hand over documents or comply with the order of the Auditor General or any other basic function of democracy.” Yet, here we are on multiple different occasions. Literally, we had a business associate of a sitting minister of the Crown, who benefited from tax dollars, effectively say, “Oh, no, it wasn't this minister of the Crown. It was an autocorrect and it was Shpandy.”
Can the government just give it a rest and hand over the documents so we can get on with the business of making this place work?