Bob Rae

[Business of Supply, May 29th, 2008]

Mr. Chair, were there any official invitations issued in the name of Madam Couillard as a companion to the minister?

[Business of Supply, May 29th, 2008]

Mr. Chair, I did not hear an answer. Did she have a diplomatic passport or not?

[Business of Supply, May 29th, 2008]

Mr. Chair, it is nice to be working with you again. I will be sharing my time with my colleague from Mount Royal in the first round of 15.

Just to start with a fairly mundane set of questions, just to try to find out about Madam Couillard. Did she have a diplomatic passport? Do we know what kind of passport she had?

[Foreign Affairs, May 28th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, it is true that everyone makes mistakes. Nevertheless, I would like to ask the government a simple question.

After problems with the minister first surfaced, it took a good five weeks for him to resign. Why did government members sit on their collective duff for five weeks?

[Foreign Affairs, May 28th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, that does not sound like a “no” to me.

I would like to ask the chosen representative of the government a simple question. It would appear that the Prime Minister, at noon on Monday, said that he did not take these issues seriously at all. It also would appear, from the press reports that the government House leader has referred to, that the documents were returned well before that. There is even one report that the Prime Minister received a resignation letter from the former foreign affairs minister on Monday morning.

Can he account for the Prime Minister's statement at lunchtime?

[Foreign Affairs, May 27th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I would just ask this very simple question. Five weeks ago, apparently the minister of foreign affairs at that time left a document at Madame Couillard's house. Since that time, we on this side have consistently questioned the government as to why it was not asking questions of Madame Couillard and the minister about the potential security issues that arose because of that relationship.

We have never received an answer to that question. We had to wait for a television program. Why did we have to wait for a television program to receive answers from the government about what happened?

[Foreign Affairs, May 27th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, that is precisely the question. Why did it take the government five weeks to discover that documents were missing and why did it take the government five weeks to ask a question either of the member for Beauce, the former minister, or of Ms. Couillard?

Why did you sit on your duff and do nothing for five weeks about--

[Foreign Affairs, May 27th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, it is clear that the only stage the Conservative government is standing on right now is the vaudeville stage. This is amateur hour on the Rideau.

The government did not know five weeks ago about this issue. Mrs. Couillard had to go on television to tell the government about it.

Why did the government not pose the question?

[National Security, May 16th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, I am absolutely devastated. I am wounded.

Now that we are talking about blushing, I wonder about the minister's travel bill to Laos. He he spent over $22,000 on a return trip from that country to Canada when everyone else was paying far less than that and when a staff member was paying one-tenth of that cost to travel. I wonder if that makes the government House leader blush, just for once.

[National Security, May 16th, 2008]

Mr. Speaker, many national security experts do not share the minister's views, since the partner of the Minister of Foreign Affairs played not only a private role, but a public role as well. That must be recognized.

I am frankly astounded that the minister and the government are continuing to defend the position that this has nothing to do with the public interest. Do they still believe that?