Bob Rae

[Government Accountability, June 18th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I have only been gone for three days and I am already getting an offer from the government.

However, I can assure members that unlike the Leader of the Opposition, this does not come from me but from the government. Let the record show that.

The problem is this: this is not an extraordinary request. The Parliamentary Budget Officer has the right to have access to the information. However, the government is refusing to give him that information. The Reform Party of Canada was elected to ensure that the executive was accountable to Parliament.

What happened to the Reform Party?

[Government Accountability, June 18th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the Parliamentary Budget Officer is an officer created by Parliament. This office was promoted by the government as a new way of adding to accountability and transparency, so when the government says that it is doing all the things it normally does, well, the government has not adjusted to the “new normal”, which is that the Parliamentary Budget Officer has a right to free and timely access to economic and financial data.

The simple question to the government is this: why is it showing not only contempt for Parliament but contempt also for its own backbenches, for the Parliamentary Budget Officer and for the law?

[Ethics, June 15th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the problem is not the documents that the member provided, but the documents that he did not provide. That is the problem.

In my opinion, this is not about whether or not the member is guilty. We do not know that. All we do know is that there is an investigation. It is not a private investigation, but a public investigation by Elections Canada.

Why has the parliamentary secretary not stepped down? That is the question. He should resign because of this investigation.

[Ethics, June 15th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, an application by an Elections Canada investigator to a court is not something that happens every day of the week. The production of bank records of an individual is not something that happens every day. This investigation has been ongoing for months. It must have been known to the member and it must have been known to the government with respect to this investigation.

I want to ask the minister, quite clearly, why the Prime Minister would not require that someone working for him in a senior function with senior responsibility, who is the spokesman for the government on so-called ethical questions, not be required—

[Ethics, June 15th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the minister, who is speaking on behalf of the government today, and it concerns his colleague, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister.

We now have further evidence and revelations with respect to an ongoing systemic investigation that includes the production of bank records. It includes a clear statement by the investigator for Elections Canada that he has reason to believe the documents have been fabricated. It includes a statement saying that the expenses are incompatible with previous contracts signed by the member and his riding association.

Quite simply, why would the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister not step aside?

[Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act, June 14th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I wonder if we could do the election over again.

[Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act, June 14th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, since the votes started earlier tonight, I want the Speaker to know that I have had three Werther's hard caramel—

[Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act, June 14th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, we all know that I did not vote on that occasion.

The second point I raise with some difficulty, but I still feel that I have to raise it. In the course of the last vote, there was a long conversation between yourself and the parliamentary secretary to the government House leader. If there are representations being made, Mr. Speaker, the whole House needs to hear them.

[Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act, June 14th, 2012]

No, I went outside before a vote was called.

[Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act, June 14th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I would like some clarification from the Chair, with respect to two things which I have observed in the course of the last 15 minutes.

First, I would like to know the propriety of members wandering around in the course of the vote.