Charlie Angus

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

Mr. Speaker, absolutely.

I think this gets to the bottom of what we are concerned about. Yesterday I asked a specific question about bogus phone calls into Edmonton East. The Conservatives said that they were just letting voters know about polling changes. Well last night Elections Canada confirmed to the NDP that not a single polling station was moved in that riding.

I would like to ask the government why it provided inaccurate information to Parliament. Will the Conservatives come clean about the monkey-wrenching in Edmonton East and who is behind it?

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

Mr. Speaker, certainly the New Democrats did not make up the name “Pierre Poutine”, the Conservative Party did. I just want to be clear--

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

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives have to do better than hide behind the excuses of Pierre Poutine. Canadians want to know who is behind him and who is behind the electoral fraud.

[Business of Supply, February 28th, 2012]

Madam Speaker, opposition day motions are declarative and make a clear position. What I hear from the Liberals is, “Well, yes, we thought it was all right to get rid of the right to privacy when we were in government but we were just getting ideas because we were worried about child pornography.” It sounds like the same message that the Conservatives are saying. However, now the Liberals bring in a motion saying that they are opposed to it, but then they want to work with the bill.

I would ask my hon. colleague why he thinks it is the New Democratic Party that continually has to put backbone into the spineless jelly who cannot seem to make up their mind on whether--

[Business of Supply, February 28th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest to my hon. colleague. I am afraid that he is missing some of the key points, just as the security minister yesterday misunderstood, or perhaps did not fully understand, the implications.

I had asked yesterday about clause 34, which would allow the minister himself to designate so-called inspectors. There is no description as to what would be an inspector, but it would be an inspector he decides upon. He would give the inspector the ability to go into any private telecom cellphone business and demand documents, to look at hard drives, and to go through files to gather evidence, all without a warrant.

Perhaps the Conservative Party thinks it is okay for people appointed by a minister to go into private businesses and snoop, to be seen in so-called compliance of the minister's wishes. We in the New Democrats think that is an extraordinary overreach to give that power to a minister.

In subclause 34(4) it actually states that these so-called inspectors named by a security minister could bring with them anyone they felt would help them in doing their job. Does the member not think that that is a complete overreach? Why is it that he could allow such an abuse of private business?

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

Mr. Speaker, we see the arrogant attitude that “Catch us if you can”. That might be okay for Earl Jones or Bernie Madoff, but that is not acceptable for the Prime Minister of Canada.

We are talking about electoral fraud. We gave them the numbers. They were saying they were just making the calls, so they admitted it.

Let us talk about what they did in Thunder Bay where we have given evidence, and now we have witnesses who said they were told to mislead voters on behalf of the Conservative Party.

Who was involved in the Thunder Bay shenanigans? Who is going to step forward, because it is time those people went to jail?

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

As I said, Mr. Speaker, we can see their attitude, their contempt for the Canadian people.

Let us talk about evidence that we have already brought forward to Elections Canada. We will show them ours if they will show us theirs: 780-665-2272. That is the number that called into Edmonton East, used by people pretending to be from Elections Canada and who gave misleading messages and pro-Conservative messages. That is a crime. That is electoral fraud.

Do the Conservatives not want to know who did it? We brought forward our evidence. Who over there knows who was involved in this electoral fraud in Edmonton East?

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

Mr. Speaker, there we have it, a party that thinks that electoral fraud is a joke. That is the sense we get from them.

[Shannen's Dream, February 28th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, we have Conservative election fraud, Liberal dirty tricks, and snooping and spying. No wonder Canadians think that Ottawa is broken. The old-style parties are playing the games of scandal, division and dirty tricks. Meanwhile, New Democrats are delivering for Canadians.

For example, last night in the House of Commons our leader, the member for Hull—Aylmer, brought through Shannen's dream motion where every child in this country is going to be guaranteed an equal right to education.

That is what leadership is about. That is why Canadians voted for us in such numbers. We are doing this as the united New Democratic opposition against that corrupt old party over there.

In 2015, we will send those members off to the permanent dog house when we form a New Democratic government.

[Public Safety, February 27th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I will help the minister out a little bit. Let us go to clause 34, where the minister gets to hire his own personal inspectors. Check this out. They can walk into any private telecom business. They can snoop through any file, any hard drive with no warrant needed.

The minister's appetite for spying knows no bounds. Instead of spying on law-abiding citizens, why does he not go after the crooks in the Conservative Party who have run the biggest electoral fraud scheme in Canadian history?