Charlie Angus

[Ethics, March 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for his very kind and professional words.

I agree with him that these are very serious issues. Issues of influence pedaling are serious crimes, and yet the Prime Minister's chief of staff knew about this, the Clerk of the Privy Council knew about this, major Conservative cabinet ministers knew, even Senator Doug Black knew that they were applying the secret sauce. Yet we are supposed to believe that the Prime Minister is always conveniently out of the loop whenever something illegal is happening in his office. When are they going to get to the bottom of this?

[Ethics, March 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the RCMP started investigating Bruce Carson back in 2012 about whether he was using his insider influence with the Conservatives to land lucrative deals with impoverished first nations who had dirty water.

Bruce Carson was the ultimate insider. The Conservatives even called the scheme the “secret sauce”, but it was the Prime Minister who approved the sauce when he hired this convicted fraud artist. What was the Prime Minister thinking when he allowed a convicted criminal to slip through the security checks and work in his inner office? What was he thinking?

[Ethics, March 6th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, this so-called private citizen is a convicted fraud artist who was personally appointed by the Prime Minister to be his chief insider. He was such an insider that the Conservatives called him “the secret sauce”. This is what the sauce was. He was using his plum position to benefit his bottom line by setting up deals that took advantage of first nations.

Why did the Prime Minister appoint a convicted fraud artist to a plum position and then allow him to continue on lobbying right under his nose and not take any steps for the Privy Council or for his chief of staff?

[Ethics, March 6th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, new RCMP documents show the extent of illegal lobbying that was carried on by the Prime Minister's former chief adviser Bruce Carson, along with the help of people like Dan Gagnier, the adviser to the Liberal leader.

He illegally lobbied numerous Conservative cabinet ministers. None of them blew the whistle on him. He lobbied the Clerk of the Privy Council and even the Prime Minister's good friend Nigel Wright.

Will the Prime Minister tell us: When was he informed about this illegal lobbying that was happening among his ministers, his public servants, and his staff?

[Canada-Honduras Economic Growth and Prosperity Act, March 6th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I listened to my hon. colleague with great concern because I realized how far Canada has fallen internationally. Canada was seen as a champion of democratic development and human rights around the world, but we are now in a position where the Conservatives and Liberals laugh at the issue of human rights abuse.

Looking back on our tradition, we had Brian Mulroney stand up against apartheid. Canada could have been there to make a buck but that government said no, that making a buck off the backs of such a corrupt system was not right. We saw previous Liberals regimes speak up against the murders and killings that were going on in El Salvador.

However, today the present Conservative government and the Liberal opposition are of the position and mindset that anyone who raises concerns about the killing of people speaking up for their democratic rights is somehow speaking pie-in-the-sky silliness, and that to make buck off such a corrupt and illegitimate regime is how business is done.

I would like to ask my hon. colleague how he thinks that places Canada, which once had such a stellar reputation for speaking up for on basic human rights, but now has this kind of cynical abuse from the Conservatives and Liberals.

[Privacy, March 4th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I will hand it to my colleague in showing us the extent that the Prime Minister will run to avoid accountability over the criminal acts that may have been committed in his own office.

Speaking of this, yesterday we found that the government used the Aga Khan's speech as a pretext to data mine information on Canadians for the Conservative Party. This was a momentous occasion for the Ismaili community, yet the Conservatives used this historic occasion to inappropriately gather data for the Conservative Party.

Could the government tell us if it really thinks it is appropriate to use a state visit by a religious leader to gather personal information for the use of the Conservative war machine?

[Ethics, March 4th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday we asked the government what the Prime Minister knew about the two key meetings that took place in his so-called “private, high-security boardroom” regarding the Senate payoff and cover-up scandal.

The answer was—well, there was no answer, so let us try to go a little simpler.

When was the Prime Minister informed that there were meetings in his boardroom between the conspirators who are now under criminal investigation, or does the Prime Minister find it more convenient to not ever find out what actually happens in his high-security office?

[Statements by the Member for Mississauga—Streetsville—Reference to Standing Committee, March 4th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, we were told last night that we cannot use the word “lie”. We were told that. We respect that. We are told that we cannot say that the member “deliberately misled”, yet the hon. member uses the word “wilfully”.

I ask the Speaker to rule that he is attempting to say that I lied in this House, which is not true. I treat my privileges with respect , and I treat this House with respect. I would like the Speaker to ensure that both sides follow rules of decency about the attempt to claim that people are deliberately misleading this House, that people are deliberately lying, or that people are wilfully misrepresenting issues.

[Statements by the Member for Mississauga—Streetsville—Reference to Standing Committee, March 4th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the member appears to be insinuating that the member for Parkdale—High Park knowingly misled the House, when in fact, on February 24, the member for Mississauga—Streetsville did not apologize. He said he was correcting the record.

I would like the hon. member to retract any attacks on the member for Parkdale—High Park.

[Privilege, March 3rd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague for putting it in this context. When we talk to average Canadians, they say how cynical they are with the behaviour of the House of Commons because they believe that the issue of facts and truth are continually thrown aside. That is a serious undermining. It is a legitimacy crisis for faith in the democratic system. We are dealing with a bill that may deny Canadians their right to vote in certain instances. That has to be looked at carefully and prudently. That is our obligation.

My hon. colleague is correct that we have been given certain privileges to do this work, to be able to examine law, change law, and debate law. However, if we use those privileges to subvert the rule of law, and it is known and it is found, then to shrug it off or simply use a Conservative majority to shut down debate, sweep it under the rug, prorogue, and carry on is a subversion of the notion of democracy. This is not about a witch hunt. Rather, it is about whether an attempt was made to undermine the development of a new law in this country. That is serious. It must be dealt with because we have a larger obligation to the Westminster system, not just here in Canada.