Dean Del Mastro

[41st General Election, May 7th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, further to what my colleague said a moment ago, the Chief Electoral Officer found troubling all of the sweeping allegations of wrongdoing without facts to support it. That is what we hear in this House day in and day out from an NDP that has had to apologize time and time again for defamatory comments that it has made in public.

Let us be clear. The articles that were published over the weekend made it absolutely crystal clear for the NDP. The Conservative Party is fully supporting this investigation and has played no role in it.

[Business of Supply, April 30th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I am shocked by the hypocrisy that was just demonstrated by the member for Malpeque. I would say I am speechless, but here I am asking a question about it.

The bottom line is that the member has completely forgotten his own party's tragic record in government when it comes to protecting producers in this country. When it came to BSE, which nearly wiped out an entire industry called agriculture in this country, the Liberals were so negligent in their handling of this serious issue that farmers in my own area lost millions of dollars, wealth they have yet to regain. That was all as a result of inaction on the part of the Liberal Party.

When the member stands in this House and speaks in the fashion that he just did, he is forgetting his own party's record. The hypocrisy of his speech is at the heights of which I have not heard since elected in 2006.

This government has acted responsibly. We have acted emphatically in support of agriculture and Canadians from coast to coast. The Liberals are the ones who cut provincial governments. They are the ones who wear all of those scars from the 1990s. Shame on them.

[Agriculture, April 30th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, spring has firmly entrenched itself once again in Peterborough county and this spring, as has been the case for generations, local farm families are gearing up to once again sow the seeds that will lead to the fall harvest.

As a person fortunate to have been born and raised on the farm, I understand the hard work that goes into producing the food we eat and export to the world.

Just this past weekend, one could pretty much watch as the wheat planted last fall stretched from the ground, while farm equipment hastily went to work tilling the fertile soil of Peterborough county, making way for the planting of corn and bean crops that will support everything from livestock to five star restaurants.

As the federal representative, I could not be more proud of our agricultural producers and farm families, regardless of whether they are operating in the supply managed sectors such as poultry and dairy or producers of beef, pork, lamb or grain and oilseeds. All of them are doing their part and they are all contributing to the strength of our country and to our county.

I am proud that our government stands with our farmers. We are opening markets and we are growing forward together. I cannot predict the weather, but I can predict that our agricultural sector will continue to grow in Canada. One more thing I know, nothing runs like a Deere.

[Ethics, April 27th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, that is interesting. I have a slightly different run of events since January.

The NDP started out with a caucus that was just slightly larger than the one it has today, probably because following its leadership campaign, the former patron saint of the NDP, Mr. Broadbent, came out and warned people not to put a given individual into leadership.

We now see some of the reaction to that. We have a couple of members of the NDP who are sitting elsewhere because they are not allowed to express their views. They are not allowed to vote on behalf of their constituents. That is the record I am focusing on, an NDP out of touch with Canadians.

[Ethics, April 27th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the member uses the word “dubious”. Here is what is dubious. It is dubious for the member for Winnipeg Centre to make baseless smears against Canadians across this country and then have to apologize. It is the same for the member for Acadie—Bathurst, who made accusations against the Minister of Labour that the ethics commissioner slammed.

It is also dubious to accept tens of thousands of dollars of illegal union contributions for its annual general meeting the way the NDP did, and then cover it up and hide it by not even presenting those economic records to Elections Canada so it can investigate it. I look forward to that party providing those records to Elections Canada.

[Political Party Financing, April 27th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, of course the Conservative Party did no such thing. The member knows full well that these allegations relate to a local riding association. The Conservative Party does not have access to information about any such donations. Anyone with information suggesting the law has been broken should provide that information to the appropriate authorities. I would encourage the member to do that.

The Conservative Party of Canada respects all Elections Canada requirements for fundraising.

[41st General Election, April 27th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, those kinds of allegations from the Liberal Party, I suppose, are to be expected.

However, if we look at the Liberal Party's record, it ran a program that stole $363 million from Canadians, $43 million of which is still missing. It is a party that collects personal records of MPs in other parties and leaves them in filing cabinets so that its staff can run vicious Twitter attacks and then says that it does not want them to do it but seem to encourage it.

That is a party that Canadians have lost trust and faith in.

[41st General Election, April 27th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, it was only a few short weeks ago that the Chief Electoral Officer said that he found it troubling all of the sweeping allegations of wrongdoing with no facts to support them.

We just heard the diatribe from the member for Malpeque--completely fact-free, I might add.

However, I will point out one thing. The member talked about trust and he talked about Canadians. Canadians do not trust the Liberal Party, and that is why he is way down there.

[Ethics, April 27th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, while our government is focusing on creating jobs, growth and long-term prosperity, the opposition is focused on baseless smear campaigns.

Just weeks after the member for Winnipeg Centre had to apologize numerous times for numerous baseless smears, the NDP has suffered yet another blow to its already dubious credibility.

Yesterday, the ethics commissioner rejected, I would say quite clearly and emphatically, the member for Acadie—Bathurst's claims and cleared the Minister of Labour.

The NDP's willingness to accuse without proof and without hesitation reflects a deeper rot within the whole party.

Now that Eehics commissioner Mary Dawson has proven that the member for Acadie—Bathurst was wrong, and emphatically wrong, will he admit it and apologize here in the House to the Minister of Labour?

[Ethics, April 26th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, once again we see the opposition making sweeping, baseless allegations. Virtually nothing of what the member just indicated is factual. The Conservative Party is not being investigated. There are no such search warrants. The Conservative Party has been operating and supporting Elections Canada in this from the outset. What we saw from the Liberal Party was denial and anything it could possibly do to cover up the fact that it made illegal robocalls, used fictitious phone numbers, used phony names and broke the law.

Why were the Liberals not front and centre saying what they—