Candice Bergen

[Petitions, May 16th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present a petition with thousands of signatures from Canadians from every part of the country, calling on the Prime Minister to resign. The petitioners are not doing this lightly. This is unprecedented. It is because these Canadians believe the Prime Minister has lost the moral authority to govern.

Given the cover-up that he has been embroiled in with SNC-Lavalin and other ethical lapses, Canadians are seeing that the Prime Minister, who said he would be a leader with ethics, an open leader, somebody who was transparent, has indeed been the exact opposite. Because of that, literally tens of thousands of Canadians are joining with us and calling on the Prime Minister to resign.

I want the petitioners to know that we are in the last days of this Parliament and an election is coming up. However, I wanted to present this petition on their behalf and ask that the government look at this seriously and look at the reasons behind this petition.

[Justice, May 13th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister engaged in political interference in this case from the beginning. Vice-Admiral Norman's defence counsel said, “No person in this country should ever walk into a courtroom and feel like they are fighting their elected government or any sort of political [interference]”. She was talking about the Liberal government.

Will the Liberals on the defence committee block the truth from coming out, or will they allow this to come before the committee, allow us to call witnesses, and get to the bottom of this, yes or no?

[Justice, May 13th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, we are not questioning the independence of the public prosecutor. We know that the decision to stay the trial was theirs, but as Norman's lawyer said very directly, the decision to stay the charges was made independently, despite the attempts of the Liberals to interfere—not because of but despite their attempts.

Here we are five days later and still no answers from the Prime Minister. Will he get up today and answer this question, or will he appear before the defence committee and start answering some questions on this?

[Justice, May 13th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, Vice-Admiral Mark Norman and his defence team have been clear. The Prime Minister and his office tried to interfere in the case against the vice-admiral, both prior to the charges being laid and during the proceedings. In fact, Marie Henein said,“you don't put your finger and try to weigh in on the scales of justice, that is not what should be happening”. She was talking about the Liberals.

Just exactly why did the Prime Minister try to weigh in on the scales of justice and interfere in the vice-admiral's court case?

[Business of the House, May 9th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, I hope we receive a more extensive answer than we did in the answer to the last question.

Could the House leader for the government tell us what business we can expect for the remainder of this week and for next week?

[Justice, May 6th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, between the SNC-Lavalin affair, breaking ethics laws and foreign affairs disasters, the Prime Minister and his train-wreck government have been in constant scandal mode. Now that the Norman trial is closing in, the Liberal member for Orléans is planning to testify against his own government. Talk about a dumpster fire.

The Prime Minister does not want the truth coming out, and again he is interfering in a criminal case. Will the Prime Minister admit that he is intentionally trying to delay Mark Norman's trial until after the election?

[Justice, May 6th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, that is completely false. The Liberals have refused to hand over documents to Mr. Norman's defence. Interestingly enough, though, when Gerry Butts needed access to emails and documents when he was trying to discredit the former attorney general in the SNC-Lavalin affair, he had no problem at all getting those documents.

It is clear, yet again, that there is one set of rules for friends of the Liberals and a different set for those who are in the Prime Minister's crosshairs. Why is the Prime Minister refusing to hand over critical documents and evidence to Mr. Norman's defence team?

[Justice, May 6th, 2019]

Mr. Speaker, Vice-Admiral Mark Norman is a man of integrity who has served our country with distinction in the Royal Canadian Navy, but the Liberals seem to have a personal vendetta against the vice-admiral and are going out of their way to block evidence and deny him a fair trial. Thankfully, there is a Liberal who has had enough of the Prime Minister's lack of integrity. The Liberal member for Orléans is going to testify on Norman's behalf.

Will the Prime Minister stop this obstruction and release all the relevant documents immediately?

[Public Safety, May 3rd, 2019]

They are failing miserably, Mr. Speaker.

Now we have just learned from The Globe and Mail that the Liberals are funding a research position where applicants who are critical of Huawei are being screened out. They are told that they need not apply. Where have we heard this before, that if one disagrees with dear Liberal leader one had best keep quiet?

Top security experts and governments around the world are putting up warnings and cutting ties with Huawei, but the Liberals are not only ignoring these concerns, they are partnering with Beijing and playing right into China's hands. Why?

[International Trade, May 3rd, 2019]

That is incredibly naive, Mr. Speaker. It is time we started pushing back against these bullies and what they are doing to our producers. Conservatives have suggested a number of ways to do that, including launching a complaint at the WTO, but the Liberal agriculture minister says that they will not launch a challenge because they do not feel it is just the right moment.

Our producers are suffering. Millions of dollars and the livelihoods of thousands are at stake. If now is not the right time to launch a challenge at the WTO, when is the right time?