House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2011, with 45% of the vote.
Ethics April 13th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, I am not familiar with this group, BMCI, to which the member for Winnipeg South Centre refers.
What I can say is when serious allegations were brought forward to the Prime Minister, he forwarded them to the relevant authorities, to an independent officer of Parliament and to the independent police authorities. It was the responsible thing to do. We will await the conclusions that come from these relevant authorities.
Ethics April 13th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, if we had anything to hide, we would not have referred the matter to an independent officer of this House. We would not have referred this matter to the independent Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the relevant authorities.
Let me be very clear. The allegations in question do not involve any other minister, any other member of Parliament, any senator, or any employee of the Government of Canada.
Ethics April 13th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, I am always calm, cool and collected in this place as has been my long-term practice, but let me say this. Some serious allegations were raised with the Prime Minister's Office. He immediately acted in a quick fashion, an appropriate fashion. He referred the matter to the relevant authorities so that they could look into the issue.
I think that is a high standard of ethical conduct and one with which Canadians should be proud.
Ethics April 13th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, that was quite the spirited question from the leader of the New Democratic Party. Here is what happened. On Thursday evening some allegations were made--
Ethics April 13th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, we have strong legislation with respect to the registration of lobbyists. It was this government that established an independent lobbyist commissioner who reports to Parliament and not through the federal government.
If the member opposite has any specific allegations he would like to make about anyone, I would encourage him to bring forward specific details and forward them to the commissioner so they can be investigated independently.
Ethics April 13th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, as I said yesterday, I can report to the House that Mr. Jaffer had no discussions with me about any of his commercial interests.
Ethics April 13th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, we have seen some recent media revelations with respect to this matter.
However, I will say that taxpayer dollars should be used for official government purposes. Commercial activity should not be pursued with taxpayer dollars. It is incumbent upon all members of Parliament, all of us in this House regardless of party, to follow all the rules as set forward by the Board of Internal Economy.
Ethics April 13th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, the allegations in question that the Leader of the Opposition and leader of the Liberal Party refers to came out in media reports just last Thursday.
I will just say this. Taxpayers work hard for their money and every tax dollar should be used wisely while on government and public business.
Ethics April 13th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister has said publicly, allegations were brought to his attention last Thursday and on Friday morning he referred those allegations to the RCMP, the relevant authority, so that it would have the opportunity to review them and take the action that it felt was necessary.
Taxation April 12th, 2010
Mr. Speaker, these issues are obviously tremendously important not just to the government of Quebec but indeed to the Minister of Finance as well. I think he has spoken very clearly to this issue with respect to working with his counterpart in the province of Quebec in order to make compensation for harmonizing the tax. It actually has to be harmonized, though.