Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister has again said very clearly, he was made aware of the payment by Nigel Wright the day it was reported, on that Wednesday, and he is not aware of any agreement between Mr. Duffy and Mr. Wright.
House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2011, with 56% of the vote.
Ethics May 28th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister has again said very clearly, he was made aware of the payment by Nigel Wright the day it was reported, on that Wednesday, and he is not aware of any agreement between Mr. Duffy and Mr. Wright.
Ethics May 28th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has already provided a very clear answer to that question.
Government Accountability May 28th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, indeed, he has set the level for accountability that Canadians have come to expect and deserve. That is why we have been re-elected twice since our first mandate.
Equally, on the measure of accountability, would the Liberal leader care to explain again his position on the subject of Senate reform? He says he does not believe in changing the status quo, because it benefits the province of Quebec.
He is going to be in western Canada later this week. It would be nice if he would actually come clean with western Canadians about why it is he thinks this institution should continue to be a disrespect to other parts of the country because of its current imbalance. It would be great if he would be accountable to this House for his position on the status quo in the Senate, which is unacceptable.
Government Accountability May 28th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister just answered directly both of those questions that were in the Leader of the Opposition's question. However, more broadly on the issue, the Prime Minister was just very clear about when he learned about what Nigel Wright did when Nigel Wright was acting alone.
We do want to indeed move forward on the issue of Senate reform and we do hope that the opposition parties will stand up and work with us to reform the Senate in a way that Canadians have come to hope that this House would do.
Government Accountability May 28th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, we certainly agree that Canadians expect and deserve accountability. That is why the Prime Minister, both in his entire term as prime minister and again here today, has shown the accountability and leadership that Canadians have come to expect.
The Leader of the Opposition asked questions; the Prime Minister has answered. The Liberals were mired in corruption, and Canadians expected action; we delivered the Accountability Act. On Senate reform, we have legislation to go further. It would be nice if the opposition would join us in the fight to reform Canada's Senate.
Ethics May 27th, 2013
Again, Mr. Speaker, he has and he will continue to, and the Ethics Commissioner is, indeed, looking into this matter, but perhaps the Ethics Commissioner should also look into the matter the Liberals seem to want to also move away from, which is the very matter of three Liberal members of Parliament ripping off taxpayers to the tune of $175,000 in falsely claimed expenses.
This is what the Liberals did. They had spouses and family members buy condos in Ottawa and then paid them rent. It breaks the law we have in the House when it comes to expenses. Three Liberal members of Parliament did it. They have not paid back the money. When are they going to do that?
Ethics May 27th, 2013
Again, Mr. Speaker, he has shown real leadership, both on the specifics of this matter and on the broad issue of Senate reform itself.
I will not take lessons from New Democrats when it comes to showing leadership and defending taxpayers, when members of their own party refuse to pay taxes and are still sitting in their caucus.
A little bit of temperateness in their rhetoric about this would be good, because again, the hypocrisy of New Democrats pretending to stand up for taxpayers while ripping them off at the same time is a bit much.
Ethics May 27th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, again, Nigel Wright said that he acted alone, and the Prime Minister has been very clear about the need for all parliamentarians to show leadership on the issue of Senate reform and to come together and support the serious reforms we have put on the table, including Senate term limits and Senate elections.
That is what we want to do. That is the direction we want to go. If the NDP members want to be serious in their talk about reforming the Senate, they will get together with us and work to pass this legislation.
Ethics May 27th, 2013
The Ethics Commissioner has new powers that our government put in place as part of the Federal Accountability Act, powers to investigate when necessary in a way that we think will satisfy the interests of taxpayers. That is who we are here to serve, the interests of all Canadian taxpayers.
Ethics May 27th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, if it against natural justice, where was the Liberal senators' dissenting report? There was not one. They did not put one forward. They did not say anything publicly. So again--