Bonnie Brown

[Foreign Affairs, June 18th, 2008]

I am not satisfied, Mr. Speaker. I would really like to hear from the minister responsible for national security, not the House leader.

It is obvious that a cover up is taking place here. The ex-minister said that he informed the Prime Minister immediately when he found out about the missing documents, on Sunday, May 25. However, the Prime Minister said that he only learned about the documents missing on Monday, May 26.

Now which version is true? Is this contradiction why the Prime Minister will not let the member for Beauce testify before our standing committee?

[Foreign Affairs, June 18th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, when pressed about the retrieval of the missing secret documents left unsecured by the ex-minister, the Prime Minister's National Security Advisor seemed to have no idea about the paper trail.

Does the government expect us to actually believe that the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister does not have those details, or that she was too busy, or did the Prime Minister's Office direct Ms. Bloodworth not to look into this matter?

[Election Financing, June 16th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, that member should follow the Ottawa Citizen's advice and step aside.

The Conservatives even tried to gouge their own candidates by telling them to bill for amounts above and beyond the actual costs. In a December 14, 2005 email, Michael Donison of the Conservative Party staff suggests billing candidates set amounts even though “the actual media buy for that region will be less”. That is fraud.

Why does the government insist on defending what is so clearly indefensible?

[Election Financing, June 16th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, at the heart of the in and out scandal is Elections Canada's finding that Conservative candidates filed expense claims that they ought to have known were false and misleading. Not a single contract exists between any candidate and the company that handled the ad buys. Worse, it appears that invoices were forged after the fact to try to cover up the original crime.

When will the Conservatives simply come clean, admit they broke the law, and drop the frivolous court case against Elections Canada?

[Foreign Affairs, May 16th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, the minister's actions reveal his true intentions.

Next week, in Dublin, the international community meets to seek a ban on all cluster bombs, a ban that follows in the proud footsteps of Canada's efforts a decade ago to ban landmines. However, the minister is not even attending. He is sending a junior note-taker in his place.

Why is the government so indifferent to the horrendous effects of all cluster bombs, particularly, on innocent civilians?

[Foreign Affairs, May 16th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, twice now the foreign affairs minister has ducked my question about whether his government supports an international ban on all cluster bombs. Both times he has simply read identical evasive lines; that is, they want to “reduce the harmful effects of certain types of cluster bombs”.

Will the minister put away his script today and admit that his government actually opposes an international ban on all cluster bombs?

[Municipal Affairs, May 8th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, what part of this is fiction? We know that the minister's chief of staff admits to making four calls to OPP officers handling this file. We know that Mr. O'Brien is charged with negotiating an appointment that would have involved the minister. We know that what the minister told police contradicts an affidavit backed up by a polygraph test. Why does the government believe that intervening with the OPP in a court matter is appropriate?

[Municipal Affairs, May 8th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, one day last December, the environment minister's chief of staff called the OPP four times to try to stop it from transferring the O'Brien file to the RCMP. The minister himself was in Bali at the time and abandoned his Canadian delegation so he could attend to this crisis. Since the minister is not talking about this, will the Prime Minister confirm it was the PMO that pressured the environment minister to have the calls made to the OPP?

[National Elizabeth Fry Week, May 5th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, this is National Elizabeth Fry Week, celebrated each year by the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies.

The goal is to enhance public awareness and education regarding the circumstances of victimized and criminalized women involved in the justice system.

The majority of women who are imprisoned in Canada are mothers; most of them the sole supporters of theirs families at the time they were incarcerated. When mothers are sentenced to prison, their children are sentenced to separation. So, attention is drawn to this reality by ending Elizabeth Fry Week on mother's day each year.

This week gives us a chance to consider the work being done by the Elizabeth Fry Society. It is challenging all Canadians to reach behind the walls and bring women into our communities, so that they may take responsibility and account for their actions in ways that make sense to them and to us.

[Cluster Bombs, May 1st, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday, the minister chose his words very carefully. He said that Canada only wanted to reduce the impact of certain types of cluster bombs. He avoided saying that Canada seeks an international ban on the production and the use of cluster bombs.

Will he now go on the record and say whether his government supports a ban on cluster bombs, yes or no?