House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2011, with 50% of the vote.
Points of Order March 13th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, on a separate point of order, during question period the Liberal leader made a couple of assertions that were fundamentally false. In fact, they are completely untrue. The leader of the Liberal party indicated that the Conservative Party of Canada was under “investigation”. It is not.
He also said—
Points of Order March 13th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, at the end of the statement just made by the member, he made an allegation which is fundamentally false. In fact, it is absolutely untrue what he indicated. I ask that he withdraw that, because he knows what he just said to be absolutely untrue.
41st General Election March 13th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, it is very interesting. We know the NDP is being investigated for its 2009 convention where it may have accepted some illegal union donations. Recently, last spring, it accepted tens of thousands of illegal donations from unions, of course contravening the Elections Act.
We also now know that the member for Winnipeg Centre has just had to issue his second apology for making claims that were not factual, not truthful. They were slanderous claims against companies in this country. Perhaps he would like to rise in the House and apologize as well.
41st General Election March 13th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, this party did no such thing. In fact, we are the only party that has been completely transparent with Elections Canada.
We invite the NDP to provide that same level of transparency to Elections Canada, because what we know is that the opposition has now admitted—in fact, confessed—to making illegal calls when confronted with the evidence. We know that they paid millions of dollars to make these calls to Canadians in the last election.
We are assisting Elections Canada. I have indicated we are providing the transparency they need. We would like the opposition to do the same.
41st General Election March 13th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, it is interesting. Only one party actually tried to defraud Elections Canada by funnelling money into the Broadbent Institute, and that would be the NDP. It had to return that money.
The calls in Peterborough, referred to by the member opposite, used a real name, identified a real campaign office with a real phone number. The hon. member for Guelph has admitted to paying for misleading and in fact illegal calls with a message from a fake person using a fake phone number.
The opposition has now admitted to making illegal calls. We know it paid millions of dollars to make these calls. We want Elections Canada to investigate this and we would like the opposition to assist it.
41st General Election March 12th, 2012
A real person, Mr. Speaker, like Laurie MacDonald from Guelph?
The Liberal member for Guelph paid for illegal robocalls that concealed the fact that the calls came from the Liberal campaign. He did so in a deliberate fashion.
We know that members of the Liberal Party and the NDP have spent millions of dollars to make hundreds of thousands of calls. We need to know how many other illegal calls were paid for by the Liberal Party. The Liberals should provide all of that information to Elections Canada right now.
As I said, the Liberal Party and the Liberal leader have acted in a fashion that is disgraceful—
41st General Election March 12th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, when we brought in budgets that increased the age credit, not once but twice, the NDP voted against it. When we brought in legislation to increase OAS, the NDP voted against it. When we brought in legislation to introduce pension income splitting, the NDP voted against it. We have no apologies to make with respect to what the NDP has done with seniors.
However, what we can also say very clearly is that the opposition, the NDP and Liberals, has taken part in an unsubstantiated smear campaign for these past two weeks. We know now that the liberal member for Guelph conducted illegal robocalls into his riding. He acted in a fashion that is deceptive, disgraceful and dishonest.
41st General Election March 12th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, this party and the Prime Minister enjoy fantastic support from seniors right across the country because they know this party has stood up for them.
We know there were deceptive calls made in the last campaign. We know it for a fact because we gathered evidence on it. However, the member for Guelph, for the last number of weeks, has taken part in this opposition unsubstantiated smear campaign. He has done so knowing full well the entire time that his campaign ran these illegal robocalls into the riding of Guelph, but he never indicated it to the House. He has acted in a fashion that is disgraceful, deceptive and dishonest.
41st General Election March 12th, 2012
Mr. Speaker, it is not uncommon, when confronted by substantiated evidence, where folks will in fact confess when they have broken the law. That is what the member has done. He has confessed to the fact that he has broken the Elections Canada Act and broken CRTC regulations.
For the last number of weeks, that member has conducted an unsubstantiated smear campaign against this party and this Prime Minister but not once did he breathe a word to this House that he had conducted those illegal calls.
41st General Election March 12th, 2012
Or, Mr. Speaker, we could just go to liberalist.ca and we could observe on page 105 where it advises the Liberals that they should pick a caller ID for the robocall, that it must be a land line and should be a phone number that recipients can call to contact their team about the robocall.
However, that is not what the member for Guelph did. In fact, the member for Guelph used a completely bogus phone number with an exchange that does not exist.
The Liberal Party has acted in a disgraceful, deceptive and dishonest fashion. We know it made hundreds of thousands of these calls because the Liberal Party paid millions of dollars for these calls to be made right across the country.