Bob Rae

[41st General Election, March 6th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I have a hard time understanding the Prime Minister when he says that, as the leader of the Conservative Party, he wants to ensure that Elections Canada has all the facts. While that is what he says in the House of Commons, the Conservative Party is adopting a completely different position in committee. It refuses to give Elections Canada the additional powers the agency says it needs. Why? The question is simple.

[41st General Election, March 6th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I wonder if getting the same answer twice qualifies as a robo-answer.

I would like to ask the Prime Minister a very simple question. Since the premise of a great deal of what goes on is that we need to follow the money, and the Prime Minister himself has said there is a need to follow the money with respect to what happened in Guelph, can the Prime Minister please explain to us why the Conservative members on a committee refused to give the Chief Electoral Officer the powers that he was asking for with respect to doing audits and getting a hold of financial information from political parties?

[Phone Calls to Mount Royal Constituency, March 5th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives cannot even answer an interesting, clear, factual question.

A poll was commissioned by the Conservative Party. The Conservative candidate said, “It was not me; it was the party”. The government House leader said, “It is okay; it is just free speech”, and the Speaker of the House said, “It is reprehensible”.

I am asking the Government of Canada a very simple and direct question: Does it agree with the Speaker of the House that such a tactic, spreading false information, carrying out a poll based on a false assumption, is reprehensible? Does the government agree with that, yes or no?

[Phone Calls to Mount Royal Constituency, March 5th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, it is very clear that after the election, in the riding of the hon. member for Mount Royal, calls were made that were authorized directly by the Conservative Party. The Speaker of the House described those tactics as reprehensible.

I will ask the question again: is the government prepared to accept the Speaker's ruling and recognize that in fact those tactics are reprehensible?

[Phone Calls to Mount Royal Constituency, March 5th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, one thing we do know for certain is that after the election there was a poll taken in the riding of the member for Mount Royal by Campaign Research Inc., in which it was said that the member for Mount Royal was in fact stepping down.

The Speaker of the House in ruling on that question said that the taking of that poll, which was apparently authorized by the Conservative Party, was reprehensible. Does the government agree that in fact that tactic is reprehensible?

[41st General Election, March 2nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I want to give the government an opportunity to use its speaking notes for today.

Earlier in the week, the speaking notes were particularly clear saying that there was no evidence. Then it was an unsubstantiated smear. Then, yesterday, it was all the fault of the Liberal Party, which, apparently, had some sort of spoof number in North Dakota.

I want to give the government a chance, whatever, 30 seconds or a minute, to tell us what its speaking notes are, its robopoints that it wants to make today.

[Foreign Affairs, March 2nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the minister's response, but I would like to ask a question on other aspects of the discussions between the Prime Minister and Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Since 1967, the Government of Canada has always considered the Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal, since the West Bank is governed by the Palestinian Authority.

We still believe that a two state solution is possible, with both states living side by side in peace, and we maintain that position. I want to ascertain whether this position will be taken—

[Foreign Affairs, March 2nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the Minister of Foreign Affairs. I know this will come as a shock but I actually want to ask him a question about the visit here of Prime Minister Netanyahu.

I want to ask him a very direct question concerning exactly what the position of the Government of Canada will be with respect the situation vis-à-vis Iran. Both the government of the United States and the government of the United Kingdom have made it clear that they view with a great deal of concern the notion that there would be some kind of unilateral effort on the part of any government to attack directly the state of Iran.

Is it the position of the Government of Canada that we are with our NATO allies and the United Nations in terms of insisting on a unilateral--

[41st General Election, March 1st, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to report to the Prime Minister that we are fully prepared to share all of our information on the last Liberal election campaign. We are prepared to hand over all information on any questions asked, to disclose who we called and why.

Is the Prime Minister prepared to do the same thing, yes or no?

[41st General Election, March 1st, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister and his colleagues have a remarkable ability to turn themselves into victims at the same time as they literally smear thousands of Canadians who are now complaining because they are aware of a pattern. The Prime Minister cannot deny the fact that two of the companies that are involved with respect to activities are now under serious investigation, nor can he deny the fact that there is an RCMP investigation ongoing with respect to what happened in Guelph.

Would the Prime Minister not agree that any form of voter suppression is in fact reprehensible?