House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2021, with 35% of the vote.
Jobs and Growth Act, 2012 October 29th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest to my hon. colleague and I was rather let down by the continual use of mistruths.
I would like to quote from the Ottawa Citizen because I think Dan Gardner hit it on the head about the use of the political lie. The whole point of Dan Gardner's article is the use of lying. He said, “the worst part” is that the people in the Prime Minister's Office won't care if he calls them “cynical liars who would wince when they look in the mirror—
Ethics October 29th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, there we go, we have one guy reading the newspaper and the next guy saying that he does not really care whether the donations are legal or illegal.
We are talking about illegalities here. We are talking about a man who broke the rules and then was promoted. We are talking about a campaign manager who was paid off with a plum patronage job for which he had absolutely no qualification. The Prime Minister promised he would clean up that behaviour and he broke that promise. Without any ministerial accountability, it has become a revolving door of ethical violations.
When will the member for Labrador stand up in the House and be accountable for his actions?
Ethics October 29th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, Elections Canada is investigating whether the member for Labrador bought himself an election. Today we learned disturbing new questions around donations that were made, which all originated from the same corporate postal code. The member blew past the legal spending limits.
He is reading the newspaper over there. Maybe he will read about the $18,000 in flights that he buried. These flights represent an illegal corporate donation because it gave him an enormous advantage.
Would he put his newspaper down, stand up and explain his role in this?
Jobs and Growth Act, 2012 October 29th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, on page 680 of O'Brien and Bosc, we find that the Speaker has already ruled on efforts by members to bring up irrelevant issues that have nothing to do with the facts.
The member is once again trying to use his position in the House to create a political untruth. I think he is bringing down the history of debate in this House.
I would refer you, Mr. Speaker, to the references that have already been ruled on by Speakers of people trying to manipulate and undermine credible debate.
Jobs and Growth Act, 2012 October 29th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, the member should not be using his speeches to supply misinformation to the House. There is no carbon tax and he needs to be reminded of that and stop using his position in the House to further these untruths. The issue of putting a price on carbon was done by his government in 2008. He needs to be at least--
Jobs and Growth Act, 2012 October 29th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, the region my hon. colleague represents in Thompson and Churchill is very much similar to mine in Timmins—James Bay, having some of the largest gold, copper and diamond operations in the world. Therefore, we understand the value of a resource-based economy. However, when I talk to citizens in my riding and they once again hear of the attack on the waterways, this continual undermining of basic environmental standards on the waterways, they become angry because we have seen the damage in our regions. We have seen the lakes and fish habitats that have been destroyed over the years.
I ask my hon. colleague this. While the rest of the world is moving toward a sustainable notion of treating our resources as value-added but also understanding the importance and protection of the environment, why is it that we have a government that seems to be in the process of high-grading our natural environment to get as much as it can as quickly as it can, leaving the toxic residues, which we have fought over the last 100 years in the north to stop from happening?
Ethics October 24th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I see that the bobbleheads love Captain Canada, but we are actually here talking about illegal lobbying and the involvement of ministers.
The key principle of the Lobbying Act is to not allow lobbyists to have undue influence over cabinet ministers. I think we in the House would all agree that Julie Couillard had undue influence over the member for Beauce while she was at her apartment. She was paid $51,000 for illegal lobbying, with no penalties, no consequences, and no accountability for the minister involved in this complicity.
Will the member for Beauce stand up and tell the House about his role in this illegal lobbying scam? Where is his accountability?
Ethics October 23rd, 2012
Mr. Speaker, the member for Beauce has already had to resign from cabinet once for losing key security documents in the apartment of Julie Couillard. We now find out that he lost his moral compass in that apartment as well. He never bothered to tell Canadians that during that relationship she was being paid $51,000 to illegally lobby him on behalf of a Montreal corporation. How tawdry. Did he not know better?
I have a simple question. Why did the member not come clean about the illegal lobbying efforts of Ms. Couillard when she was his girlfriend?
Strengthening Military Justice in the Defence of Canada Act October 23rd, 2012
Mr. Speaker, it is a fundamental problem in this Parliament. We have done the work. We had the committee work together. Yet we get a majority government that comes in and cherry picks and pulls out recommendations that were good recommendations that defended the needs and rights of our soldiers. For the life of me, I cannot understand why the Conservatives have such an adversarial attitude toward a basically fair and just process.
Strengthening Military Justice in the Defence of Canada Act October 23rd, 2012
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my hon. colleague's excellent question. Certainly within the military, we understand that the issue of not showing up for work can sometimes lead to catastrophic situations. For example, if individuals on a front line decide not to do their duty, people could be put at risk. We understand that there are times when there are charges. However, if the boys are out at the base one night and stay up drinking too much and do not show up in the morning, we do not believe that they should necessarily be faced with criminal convictions.
As my hon. colleague points out, there are extreme differences in attitude toward not showing up for work. For example, if a young soldier does not show up for work, he can face a criminal conviction. Dalton McGuinty can decide not to show up for four months, and it is called revitalizing the Liberal brand. Perhaps we need to reconsider where we put charges for this to ensure that people do show up for work.