Mr. Speaker, I will begin my intervention with a quote: “It’s hard not to feel disappointed in your government when every day there is a new scandal.” These are the prophetic words of the hon. member for Papineau, our current Prime Minister of Canada, and how true those words ring today.
After nine years of scandal, corruption and Liberal entitlement, the business of the House has been put on hold to discuss a new scandal of monumental proportions, the green slush fund. The government did not like that the former chair of Sustainable Development Technology Canada, or SDTC, was being publicly critical of its agenda, so it fired him and replaced him with one of its friends. This replacement was known to the government as holding blatant conflicts, as she had interest in companies receiving funding from SDTC.
The PMO, the PCO and the minister were warned about these conflicts and the risks involved, but they appointed her anyway. The new chair went on to create an environment where conflicts of interest were tolerated and managed by board directors. What ensued was the creation of a slush fund for Liberal insiders.
The Auditor General found that SDTC gave out 390 million taxpayer dollars in inappropriate contracts. This included $58 million for 10 projects that could not account for an environmental benefit or the development of green technology. In 180 cases, $334 million went to projects in which board members held a conflict of interest. All the while, senior Industry Canada officials witnessed these conflicts but did not intervene.
The Auditor General herself placed the blame directly on the industry minister, who did not sufficiently monitor the contracts that were being given out. The minister was going further than that. He was actively covering up the existence of these shady deals.
Where he failed, this side of the House attempted to deliver some form of accountability for taxpayer money. Before adjourning for the summer, the House adopted a motion calling for documents related to SDTC to be turned over to the RCMP for review. At no point in the motion did it say that the instructions were optional. At no point did it instruct the government to redact information. As we know, the House enjoys the absolute and unbound power to order the production of documents, period.
The Speaker found that the government's refusal to properly comply with the House order constituted a breach of privilege. That is our government. This was not a simple mistake by the NDP-Liberal government. It was a calculated manoeuvre to avoid the discovery of any potential criminal activity that may have occurred under the government's watch.
The SDTC whistle-blower had suggested as much. They admitted that the Auditor General's investigation only scraped the surface and that if her investigation was focused on the real intent of those transactions, “of course they would find” criminal activity.
Let us thank goodness for the breaking news yesterday: The RCMP has announced that it will be investigating. Of course, it has full authority to substantiate any criminal activities that occurred within this organization. The fact that the NDP-Liberals have tried to cover them up and prevent Parliament from shining a light on these transactions is a serious indictment of their disdain for our democratic system.
For the sake of our country and our reputation around the world, I wish the green slush fund was the only case of corruption and disrespect for Parliament. It has now been two Speakers who have ordered the government to produce documents requested by the House, by this Parliament, and on both occasions, the Liberals have failed to do so.
The former Speaker found that the Liberals breached parliamentary privilege when they refused to produce House-ordered documents regarding the transfer of the Ebola and Henipah viruses from the Winnipeg lab to the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the subsequent revocation of security clearances of two Chinese nationals. The Conservatives wanted to know why two scientists with deep connections to the Chinese military were even able to obtain high-level Canadian security clearances and conduct work with dangerous viruses. What was the government's reaction? It thumbed its nose at Parliament. The Conservatives ensured that the president of the Public Health Agency was called to the bar of the House of Commons to be reprimanded by the Speaker, something that Parliament had not done in over 100 years.
Also, in relation to the pandemic, the Prime Minister decided to use the pandemic for his own partisan gain. Canadians did not want an election in 2021, but he decided to call one anyway based on differences of opinion between the Liberals and Conservatives on how the pandemic should be managed. He thought he could wedge Canadians. For the Prime Minister, it was his way or the highway. The Prime Minister rolled the dice and Canadians said “no way”.
He failed to get a majority but destroyed many people's lives in the process. He verbally abused and wrongfully accused, and he denied culpability for the physical, mental and financial harms inflicted on Canadians. He also realized that he could not make COVID vaccines his supposed ticket to a majority government if our Canadian Armed Forces members were not fully vaccinated, so he ordered our serving members to be put through a horrific process of mandates, restrictions and punishment, which left our ranks depleted, our men and women in uniform demoralized and many seriously injured. The ramifications of his decisions will be felt in our armed forces for years to come.
Like a mantra, the Liberals continually said on that side of the floor that every decision they were making throughout the pandemic was rooted in science and that they depended on medical professionals because they themselves were not. However, here, too, the Liberals went over the heads of all parliamentarians, over the head of the Speaker and even over the head of the professional House of Commons nurse by denying members of the House the ability to do their jobs in this place on behalf of their constituents.
When it came to vaccination status and precinct access, the Liberals pushed aside the medical professional, the nurse. The Speaker ruled that she was the only one with the professional medical authority to make public health decisions for members of Parliament and House of Commons staff. The Speaker also ruled that the Board of Internal Economy had overstepped its mandate in its vaccine requirements in this place. That is when the Prime Minister, for overt personal political purposes, blatantly overrode the scientifically supported public health decisions of the House medical professional and took his own Liberal Speaker to court for daring to do his job without partisan, political interference.
Then there was a time I will never forget: the first debate I participated in, which sought to remove the government's accountability to this House. It was in regard to an environmental framework. That bill sought to give sweeping power to the minister and accountability to an advisory board. Today, with the green slush fund, we are certainly hearing how well it works out for us when one minister thinks a bit too much of himself.
Somewhat alarmed over this, I questioned the freshly minted member for West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country about this board. What was it going to look like? How many people would be on it? Where were they going to come from and what would their credentials be to give Canadians confidence? What would their mandate be? How long would they serve? I asked questions like that, while the member could not wait to rise and say that the board had already been chosen. With debate barely initiated in this House, the deed was already done.
From the green slush fund to the government's management of the pandemic to the obsession with appointing oversight bodies with little or no accountability to Parliament, the Liberals have a very unhealthy tendency to take more and more rights and responsibilities away from opposition parties in the House and give more and more power to ministers and outside governing bodies that are not accountable to this place.
Within his very first year of winning the incredible honour and privilege of being first servant to Canadians, Prime Minister, the Prime Minister said, “There is no core identity, no mainstream in Canada,” and he concluded that he sees Canada as “the first postnational state.” This was at the beginning of serving this place and serving Canadians. I do not think he went to Canadians on that.
These are all ideologies, behaviours and conscious decisions that are made by the government and the Prime Minister to obscure and deny the depth of their political corruption. These are decisions that are made with no regard for what is best for Canada. Parliament is just an inconvenience for the Prime Minister, and it always has been.
Only common-sense Conservatives will end the NDP-Liberal corruption. We will end their attack on Canada's sovereignty, on our institutions, on our way of life, on our democracy and on our rule of law. On behalf of Canadians, the Conservative Party of Canada will also get the answers Canadians deserve. They are asking for answers, and they want them.
The member for Papineau, along with every member of the NDP-Liberal government, has absolutely failed in their duty to be accountable to Canadians, and Canadians have had enough. We keep hearing about how we need to listen to Canadians. Believe me, Madam Speaker, we have. They only have one thing that is absolutely top of mind, and that is to remove the Prime Minister and his corrupt government.
Taxes and costs are way up. Canadians cannot afford the basic things in life, and they are struggling. Crime is up by over 100% in many areas. What they are doing to this country is not progressive; it is regressive. It is destroying our nation, and Canadians are saying that the government's time is up.
The vast majority of Canadians want a carbon tax election, and for them, we will bring it home.