Blake Desjarlais

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, December 9th, 2024]

With regard to the Canada Public Land Bank and properties with potential for constructing housing units: (a) for each property identified, on which traditional Indigenous territory is the property located; (b) has the government sought permission from the appropriate Indigenous government to build housing units on the land identified; (c) has the government offered the right of first refusal to the appropriate Indigenous government before beginning construction or offering the sale of the land or property; and (d) what compensation is the government offering to First Nations, Inuit or Métis communities for the sale or use of land on their traditional territory?

[Privilege, December 5th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I will say again that I always appreciate your interventions for the clarity they provide in this place. I just wanted to bring greater clarity to the Speaker's statement regarding the importance of the decency we should all have.

It is so unfortunate that, in the last few weeks, we have seen such dissent in the demeanour of Conservative Party members. It is likely because of two things. One, it is likely because their leader continues to whip them so badly that they cannot say what they truly mean, or two, it is because they are getting so worn down by the fact that their tired old slogans can only go so far, and the bumper on their car is only so big.

It is important that we do the hard work of ensuring that we get to the bottom of SDTC. One of the most important ways to get to the bottom of SDTC would be to know exactly the interests of those who abused taxpayer dollars. Ms. Verschuren abused taxpayer dollars, kicked money back to the Liberals and the Conservative Party, and now both do not want to answer questions about it. The Conservatives want to do something even worse, which is to attempt to go around some of that and accuse—

[Privilege, December 5th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, now they are heckling me. That they continue to try to diminish the reputation of this place is truly unbecoming of the Conservative Party. It is so unfortunate—

[Privilege, December 5th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I always appreciate your interventions and the clarity they provide in this place to ensure all of our colleagues act with the best conduct that is fitting of their constituents. It is unfortunate that that member from the Conservative Party would be so weak and so beholden to his emotions that he would go out of control like that in such a sporadic and extreme way, to try to diminish this place so greatly—

[Privilege, December 5th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I have obviously upset the Conservatives because they consistently mislead. The fact that he called me an “asshole” is inappropriate and is unbecoming of the Conservative Party and that member. I am happy that he apologized and withdrew it, but—

[Privilege, December 5th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I apologize to my hon. colleague, and I withdraw the comment that they are dinosaurs. They are definitely not dinosaurs. They are more like a broken-down car, as a matter of fact, but I digress.

I will get back to the point of how much Ms. Verschuren donated to the Conservative Party, the maximum amount, when she was also serving as chair of SDTC. She donated the maximum amount but not to a leadership campaign. For some reason the Conservatives think that is less relevant, but she donated the maximum amount in a non-leadership campaign in March 2024, directly to the Conservative Party; on February 6, directly to the Conservative Party; on February 6, 2017, directly to the Conservative Party; on March 19, 2009, directly to the Conservative Party; and on May 31, 2023, directly to the Conservative Party.

There were dozens and dozens of donations over the last decades as she served as a Liberal-Conservative crony, and the Conservatives do not want to face this fact. However, I want them to, because if they did, maybe we could try to rebuild the reputation of the Conservative Party, which consistently wants to omit real, relative facts to this real, serious issue. We have this SDTC fund created in 2001. Several times over again, they seek to defend their crony culture, but then they blame the other guys every time it is one of their members. They are the same party of the same coin. At the end of the day, the Liberals and Conservatives stand for the very same policies. They stand for the very same people, and they get donations from the very same individuals.

That is something we have failed to speak about in this place, but I will turn back to the matter at hand, which is relative to Ms. Verschuren and her conduct. It is true that Ms. Verschuren, during her time donating to the Conservative Party, multiple times throughout her career, did in fact, at one point, stand for, at least in some instances, green technology.

Another unfortunate reality of the SDTC fund is the fact that we support the green initiative policy. It is important that we continue to do that. Me and my colleagues, New Democrats in particular, believe that Canadians can build the best and most innovative technologies in the world. We can do that right here in our country, and that innovation could also be used to support good union jobs while also supporting the very important innovation that is needed to combat the climate crisis. We could do both. We could have a fantastic economy, and we can support workers.

I want to mention support for workers. We had a whole debate around workers, and in this case, we are having a debate about workers again. However, the Conservatives have never stood on a picket line in their entire lives. It is a fact that they have never done that. Every time a union goes to bat to exercise its members' constitutional rights, to increase their wages, to increase safety in the workplace, to make certain that they have work-life balance, the Conservatives always opt for back-to-work legislation.

I find it rich that the so-called party of workers, which is the cosplay Conservatives, consistently say that they are for workers when every time they have a chance to, they are nowhere to be found. I have stood on every single picket line and I have never seen one Conservative there. Madam Speaker, I know that is also the case for you, as well as for me and my colleagues. I dare the Conservatives to stand on a picket line for once in their lives. Show us if they can even do that, which is an important piece to this work. However, now they are going to be upset—

[Privilege, December 5th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, it pleases me a great deal to rise to speak on SDTC, to try to clarify some misleading facts present in both the Liberals' and Conservatives' speeches throughout this affair.

It is of obvious interest to the Conservatives to try to score one on the Liberals, while ignoring the convenient fact that Ms. Verschuren is kicking back money that she stole from taxpayers to the Conservative Party. They do not want to talk about that. They do not want to talk about the fact that their party is so corrupt, one of the most corrupt parties ever to exist in this country. It is the same party that invented residential schools, the same party that said we were going to have a sixties scoop and the same party that said first nations people do not deserve clean water.

My colleagues will have to forgive me if I do not believe them when they say they are ready to stand up for Canadians. They are not ready to stand up for Canadians. They are barely ready to stand up for the truth, because the truth is that Ms. Verschuren has kicked back money she got through SDTC as donations of the maximum amount to the Conservative Party for over a decade. They like to deflect by saying it is not that much money. A little bit of corruption is great, right? It is okay. We can have a little bit of corruption. No, we cannot tolerate any of it.

These two dinosaur legacy parties have continuously, over and over, time and time again, abused taxpayers. They are the same side of the same coin—

[Privilege, December 5th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, I apologize and withdraw the use of a proper name.

The leader of the Conservative Party's pension is one of the largest public pensions in the country in history. He would stand to earn $230,000 when he turns 65 because he was elected to this place for over 20 years, and the Conservatives often harp about our leader, who does not even qualify for a pension. The fact of the matter is that Conservatives are seeking to deflect from the very real reality that the Leader of the Opposition is a bootlicker for billionaires. He lives in a publicly funded mansion; he has a private chef paid for by taxpayers; he is driven here in his car, which is a taxpayer-funded car. Can the member explain why?

[Privilege, December 5th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, this member knows I have a great deal of respect for him. He is the chair of the public accounts committee. We have done great work together to get to the exact bottom of SDTC. It is a shame that he will not answer directly how much the chair, Ms. Verschuren, kicked back to the Conservative Party.

He talks about pensions, and the Conservatives talk about pensions. At the time that they would both turn 65, Pierre Poilievre would qualify for a $230,000 pension—

[Privilege, December 5th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, as a matter of fact, I have the record here. If the member would like, I can read them out and ask him. How much of a kickback does he think Conservatives got when Ms. Verschuren donated the maximum on March 24, 2022, to the Conservative Party? How much does he think she kicked back in 2022? It was another maximum donation the year before that. There are maximum donations stemming all the way back to 2005. Ms. Verschuren is not just a Liberal insider; I would conclude that she is a Liberal-Conservative insider.

Again, how much money does the member think Ms. Verschuren took from Canadian taxpayers and kicked over to the Conservative Party? I would like to know exactly how much. The member knows.