House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2011, with 56% of the vote.
Ethics June 12th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, as I said in both English and French, that is not at all what the Prime Minister said recently in Europe.
He stated very clearly that it was a personal cheque written by Mr. Wright. Those are the facts. We do not have access to personal cheques written by individuals.
With respect to the Auditor General's ongoing action, what Canadian taxpayers deserve are real answers and real action. We took action by introducing 11 measures to protect taxpayers' interests.
Ethics June 12th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, as I just finished saying, of course we have put in place those measures on expenses that taxpayers have been asking for, and there is an independent audit that is going forward.
I know my colleague opposite shared the sentiment when she mentioned Senator Tkachuk. Nothing has been said about him in this House, but all in this House agree on this important sentiment: we do indeed wish him all the best as he fights cancer, and we wish him a speedy recovery.
Ethics June 12th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, the NDP and we in the Conservative Party agree that there should have been an independent audit of the Senate and that is, in fact, what is happening. The Auditor General is looking into this matter as is the Ethics Commissioner.
On all of these questions of expenses, our government and the senators on the government side in the Senate have put forward 11 measures to ensure that taxpayers' money is protected.
On the questions of Senator Wallin and Senator Duffy, these questions will be answered by an independent process that the opposition called for and that we agreed with and led on.
Ethics June 12th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, I have been clear on this, as has the Prime Minister. We do not have access to a personal cheque of Nigel Wright. That is just a simple fact of the matter.
If the member opposite wants to talk about showing us the cheque, could those NDP members of Parliament who are not paying their taxes show taxpayers their cheques?
Ethics June 12th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, we have already answered that question very clearly.
There are other very simple questions that we as parliamentarians want answers to.
The House leader of the NDP has put forward a motion.
We are very curious for the leader of the Liberal Party to answer his own questions on his expenses on the taxpayer's dime. Did taxpayers foot the bill for the cost of him travelling to his speaking events and his private speaking business while he was a member of Parliament? Did he bill taxpayers for the cost of his speaking tours while having the worst voting attendance record of any leader in the House?
Ethics June 12th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, first of all, the real question is can I have the last 30 seconds of my life back?
The leader of the Liberal Party puts forward a number of questions. Indeed, those questions have been answered by the Prime Minister directly and by me. We have our own questions for the leader of the Liberal Party.
Does he still believe, for example, that Canadians who do not speak both of Canada's official languages are lazy? Does the Liberal Party leader still believe that the Senate should not be reformed because it benefits the province of Quebec? Does the leader of the Liberal Party still believe that it is okay for Liberal Senator Mac Harb to owe $50,000 in payments that he took from taxpayers and be welcomed back as a Liberal member of their caucus?
Ethics June 12th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, of course, I agree with the first half of the first rendition of his question, where he said our government has indeed answered these questions.
What is also important to note is that when the House does rise, our government will be very proud not only of the questions we have answered, but the actions we have delivered for Canadians. Just yesterday, we passed Bill S-2 to provide aboriginal women with equal rights to non-aboriginal women in this country. That was reported equally last week. That is great news for all Canadians. It was reported last week by Statistics Canada that the Canadian economy has created over a million new jobs since the recession.
On all these questions and on all these answers, we are proud to go into summer standing up as—
Ethics June 12th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, I just said it very clearly. We do not have access to a private personal cheque by Nigel Wright. We do not have access to it. That is just the reality.
What the Prime Minister said was that there was an independent process that had access to any documents that it required in order to answer the questions the public had about this matter.
I have been very clear, as has the Prime Minister.
Ethics June 12th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, the simple answer is no. That is not what the Prime Minister said while in Europe. What he did say was that independent investigations are under way and that the Ethics Commissioner, the RCMP and the Auditor General are reviewing the case. If they want the relevant documentation, then they can certainly have access to it. The process is very clear and independent. No, we do not have access to a personal cheque written by Mr. Wright.
Library and Archives Canada June 11th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, my colleague again does not quite have it right like his colleague opposite. Library and Archives Canada receives over $100 million every year from taxpayers. It is a lot of money and the digitization that it has been doing is the modernization that libraries and archives across the country and in comparable countries are doing. Canadians want to have access to this, not just those who have the opportunity to come here and physically access the archives, but to have it available digitally online in the format that Canadians choose to have it available in.
When the new permanent president is installed, probably this fall, he or she will look at the digitization aspect and will look at these questions and ensure the Library and Archives is modernized in a way that will benefit all Canadians.