John Baird

[Ethics, April 14th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, all the information was sent to the RCMP and Parliament's Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner.

These two organizations are independent and we should give them the time to deal with the matter.

[Ethics, April 14th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, it is very clear that when the Prime Minister and his office were apprised of new information, they did two things: they forwarded this information to the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, who operates independently of the House, as well as to the RCMP.

Those are the actions of a government that is very aware of the ethical standard in Canada. That is why the RCMP should have the time to study the information.

[Ethics, April 14th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the law in this case is very, very clear. It imposes obligations on those who lobby government. They are very specifically prescribed in the act and all lobbyists are expected to follow that important legislation.

[Ethics, April 14th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the parliamentary secretary did have meetings with Mr. Jaffer and no funding was recommended to any of the projects that were discussed. That has been very clearly stated by the parliamentary secretary.

[Ethics, April 13th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the issue involved came to the Prime Minister's Office's attention just last Thursday evening. On Friday, the Prime Minister did the reasonable, ethical and appropriate thing by referring the matter to an independent officer of the House and to the relevant authorities. Let them review the situation and we will see where it goes.

[Automotive Industry, April 13th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, if the member of the New Democratic Party had been to the transport committee he would know that Toyota officials and officials from my department have come forward and testified. They have talked about the significant number of investigations that have taken place with respect to Toyota and with respect to other motorists.

If the member wants to talk about action, this government has delivered more for Windsor in terms of infrastructure than any government in Canadian history, and we can be very proud of that.

[Automotive Industry, April 13th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, as the member said at the outset of his question, the safety of Canadian motorists and Canadians on our roads is the utmost priority for the Department of Transport and it has done a significant amount of work to ensure that vehicles are safe.

In Canada, cabinet ministers cannot direct criminal investigations. It would be a rather frightening prospect for members of this cabinet to launch criminal investigations against people or companies. Those are done by the non-partisan public service.

[Ethics, April 13th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, it is such a well-known organization that I quite frankly have never heard about it personally.

This government has put ethics and accountability high on the agenda. The very first piece of legislation this government introduced and successfully passed later that year was the Federal Accountability Act.

When we were fighting to bring in the federal accountability legislation, every single step of the way we got opposition and fights from the Liberal Party of Canada. We cleaned up the ethical mess that we inherited, and we can be very proud of that.

[Ethics, April 13th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, it is a very interesting report. Transport Canada is also on Queen Street. I wonder if that is a coincidence.

Let me say this. When the Prime Minister received the information, he took action quickly. He took the appropriate action and referred the matter to the relevant independent officer of Parliament and the relevant police authorities. He did so quickly. I think that was the important and ethical thing to do.

[Ethics, April 13th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, that is a bit of a stretch. I have not heard of the organization in question to which the member refers.

When the allegations came forward to the Prime Minister, he asked an independent officer of Parliament and he asked the relevant police authorities to look into the matter. I think it showed a high standard of ethical conduct to allow the appropriate authorities to look into the matter in question.