Bob Rae

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

Mr. Speaker, it is perhaps appropriate that the RCMP has declared that March is fraud prevention month. I would like to ask the Prime Minister in light of that fact, is he suggesting for one moment that there is some kind of statute of limitations with respect to complaints on electoral fraud? Is he suggesting that the people coming forward and providing evidence are not being sincere? Is he suggesting that the thousands of Canadians coming forward are in fact conducting a smear campaign?

[41st General Election, February 29th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I have given clear examples today. First, Jewish voters received harassing phone calls. In over 30 ridings, voters received calls that can only be qualified as harassing. Then I gave another very clear example: people were told to go to vote at a location where there was no polling station.

I want to make one thing crystal clear to the Prime Minister: he and his government have that information; the opposition does not. We can give examples, but it is up to the government to answer for this.

[41st General Election, February 29th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, in addition to the calls made to Jewish voters, we have another pattern of calls that were made not to just four but to over thirty ridings. People received calls, again from people claiming to be canvassing on behalf of the Liberal Party, at midnight, at 11:30 p.m., at two o'clock in the morning claiming to be saying let us vote for the Liberals.

If this happened in one riding, we would say it was just a prank. If it happened in two, it might be a coincidence. When it happens in over 30 ridings, the explanation has to come from the Conservative Party with respect to what was going on. That is what is required.

[41st General Election, February 29th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, that is what the Conservatives said for three years about the in and out campaign until they had to pay a $50,000 fine. We will see what happens.

We have reported to Elections Canada on four ridings, Eglinton—Lawrence, St. Paul's, Winnipeg South Centre and Mount Royal. Jewish voters there received phone calls on Friday night or Saturday from people claiming to be members of the Liberal Party in support of the Liberal Party. These can only be described as harassing calls.

If it happened in one riding, it might just be one riding. If it happened in two, that might be just a coincidence. When it happens in four, there has to be an explanation. What is the explanation?

[41st General Election, February 28th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I have just learned that a court document has been produced from the Office of the Commissioner of Canada Elections saying that there were 31 phone calls between the Conservative campaign in Guelph and RackNine and that there were 40 calls between Conservative operatives in Ottawa and RackNine.

Could the government explain that information in conjunction with the statement that was just made by the parliamentary secretary?

[41st General Election, February 28th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, we simply followed the Prime Minister's advice. All of the information we received came from members of the public. The people are the ones making allegations. Workers are the ones making allegations. The Liberal Party is not making allegations. Responsibility for and control over this information is in the Conservative Party's hands.

The Prime Minister should turn over all contracts and all available information to Elections Canada. Then there can be a real independent investigation.

[41st General Election, February 28th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has refused to take responsibility for this and for any number of other things. At least I have had the wherewithal to apologize to the House for something that I felt was mistaken. I would like to ask the Prime Minister, when was the last time he ever uttered the words “remorse”, “sorry” or “apologize”? I do not recall ever having heard them.

[41st General Election, February 28th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, at least I—

[41st General Election, February 28th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, it is the Conservative Party that is the holder of the evidence. This is the point that has to be made so clearly. It is the Conservative Party that has the access to the contracts. It is the Conservative Party that has the access to whomever was making the calls and when they were making the calls. I can assure the Prime Minister that all parties are providing evidence to Elections Canada, but the majority of the evidence is in the control of the Prime Minister.

[41st General Election, February 28th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the only way of finding out whether there is evidence is if the people who have the evidence actually come forward—