Dean Del Mastro

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

Mr. Speaker, it is very interesting that on Monday, this very member, the member for Timmins—James Bay, said that NDP members had no evidence, none whatsoever, to support the claims that they were making. In fact, I would argue that this member has no evidence whatsoever with respect to Edmonton East.

What I would say is that this member and the members of his party have conducted a completely unsubstantiated smear campaign against our party. If they have evidence, produce it. Otherwise, Canadians are left to conclude that this is nothing but a party conducting a full-blown, unsubstantiated smear campaign.

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

Mr. Speaker, once again, that is very interesting coming from the opposition. Those members are saying they have no evidence and could we provide them with some. This is an unsubstantiated smear campaign led by the opposition parties. They have absolutely nothing to back up what they have said.

The Conservative Party of Canada ran a clean and ethical campaign. We won the support of Canadians from coast to coast to coast.

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

Mr. Speaker, we have heard the member for Timmins--James Bay indicate that the NDP has no evidence. We just heard the leader of the opposition indicate that they have made all their evidence public. I guess we would have to conclude then, based on what they have made public, that this is nothing but an unsubstantiated smear campaign on behalf of the NDP, and they should withdraw all their comments in this regard.

[Oil and Gas Industry, February 29th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the second largest industry in Ontario is oil and gas and it is growing. Indeed, Ontario's manufacturing sector has, in part, Canada's oil sands to thank for many of its jobs.

Just last month, the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters said that energy and resource development across Canada offers billions of dollars in new opportunities for Canadian manufacturers, technology, logistics and other service suppliers. As the province has the most manufacturing jobs, this is tremendous news for the province of Ontario. The oil sands create hundreds of thousands of direct and indirect jobs, jobs induced across Canada, many of them right here in the great province of Ontario.

Canada's emergence as a clean energy superpower is great for Ontario. It is great for Ontario's manufacturing jobs. As a country, we will continue to diversify our trading relationships and build jobs right here in Ontario.

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

Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, the Conservative Party of Canada denies any involvement whatsoever in the matter pertaining to Guelph.

With respect to the question the member has just asked, he knows he is not being transparent in his question. He is trying to mix apples and oranges here. Were there calls between RackNine and members? Sure, there may have been, but the member knows full well that the matter with Guelph is entirely separate. The Conservative Party is co-operating with Elections Canada in that matter and will continue to do so.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative Party of Canada denies any involvement in Guelph whatsoever with the matter of which the member spoke. In fact, the Conservative Party of Canada is entirely co-operating with Elections Canada regarding that matter.

However, since he mentioned a couple of ridings, I may provide him with some facts with respect to those ridings. In the riding of Etobicoke Centre, 2,200 more votes were cast in the last election. In the riding of Nipissing—Timiskaming, 800 more votes were cast in the last election. There were more than 900,000 more votes in the last election. More Canadians voted in the last election in 2011 and not less. We should be clear on those facts.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative Party of Canada does not place intentionally misleading calls to voters. We simply do not.

If the Liberal Party, which is conducting a smear campaign against members of this party without any evidence, completely baseless, has evidence, it should provide that evidence and information to Elections Canada. If the Liberals do not have any evidence of that, then they should apologize to the members of the House.

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

Mr. Speaker, our party is fully open, honest and transparent with Elections Canada. However, what we do know is that is not the case with the NDP. We still do not know who provided the massive union sponsorships during the NDP convention last spring. These were entirely illegal and contrary to the Federal Accountability Act, but the NDP has still not revealed who provided tens of thousands of dollars in illegal donations. If it wants full transparency, it can start providing some.

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

Mr. Speaker, of course Elections Canada has the full investigative ability and authority to look into these or other matters. However, for them to investigate, there has to be evidence.

What we are saying to the NDP is that if they have any evidence, any information any at all, they should provide it to Elections Canada. We are fully co-operating with Elections Canada and have no reason not to. We have done absolutely nothing wrong.

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

Mr. Speaker, that is very interesting.

I was actually on CBC Radio this morning when the lady indicated that she was actually making those calls on behalf of the Conservative Party of Canada, providing information as to the polls that had changed. In fact there were 127 polling locations that changed across the country, involving more than 1,000 polls and hundreds of thousands of Canadians.

She was making these announcements on behalf of the Conservative Party, calling Conservative Party supporters. We had an interest in making sure they got to the polls correctly. That is what we did. Every party should have done the same.