Justin Trudeau

[Ethics, June 11th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I will be very clear: if he is innocent, he is in; if he is guilty, he is out. However, nobody on this side is going to cut him a $90,000 cheque to avoid the problem.

My question is for the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, who publicly defended Nigel Wright after his resignation. Does he accept as credible Mr. Wright's explanation that he wrote a $90,000 cheque in order to save taxpayers money?

[Ethics, June 11th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, it has been nearly a month, and the government still has no clear or believable answer on why the Prime Minister's chief of staff cut a $90,000 cheque to a sitting legislator.

The government should consider the statement of the member for Edmonton—St. Albert, who recommended a little contrition and humility instead of simple bluster and blunder on this subject.

Will the government finally tell us the real reason that Nigel Wright gave for writing that cheque?

[Points of Order, June 5th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, members in the House have asked many times of the Prime Minister why he is choosing to raise payroll taxes and why he is choosing to spend public funds on accounts. These are questions Canadians have.

[Points of Order, June 5th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, it is a shame of mine, but I am not an MP from Calgary. I am the MP for Papineau and neither question was from a constituent. The questions were from Canadians who had questions they wanted the Prime Minister to answer. That is part of our jobs as members of Parliament.

[Government Priorities, June 5th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Prime Minister another question, this one from Monique in Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix.

Monique would like to know how the government can justify spending Canadians' money on negative partisan advertising. She does not think that is productive for anyone, except the Conservative Party, and she thinks that there are many other causes that would be worthy of her tax money and that would help Canadians.

She wants to know why the Prime Minister is wasting her tax dollars on negative partisan advertising.

[Government Priorities, June 5th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, we have crowd-sourced over 3,000 questions from Canadians across the country for the Prime Minister on economic challenges facing the middle class. I want to ask the Prime Minister a question I received from Dustin in Calgary. His question is specifically about his EI premiums, which are rising by $50 this year, a direct payroll tax increase.

Dustin would like to know why the Prime Minister chose to raise EI premiums for him and every other working Canadian?

[Ethics, June 5th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, we still have not heard why. Perhaps the real reason is linked to the fact that Nigel Wright was a director, for seven years, of the Conservative Fund, the fundraising arm of the Conservative Party, including in 2008, when Mike Duffy was appointed to the Senate and became active as an important fundraiser.

I will ask the Prime Minister again: Why did he appoint Mike Duffy to the Senate?

[Ethics, June 5th, 2013]

If the Prime Minister's Office really wanted to reimburse taxpayers for Mike Duffy's $90,000 in expenses, it could have deducted the money from his pay.

The Prime Minister claims that despite the ethics rules and the Criminal Code, his chief of staff thought that the best solution was to write a big cheque.

If I can be so bold as to assume that the Prime Minister did not buy this excuse any more than Canadians do, what real reasons did Nigel Wright give for writing that $90,000 cheque?

[Ethics, June 5th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, if the Prime Minister's Office wanted to save the taxpayers $90,000 from Mike Duffy's expenses, it could have docked his Senate pay until it was paid back. The Prime Minister said that his chief of staff thought, ethics rules and criminal law aside, that writing a big cheque was the best plan. I presume the Prime Minister would not buy that flimsy excuse any more than Canadians do.

What real reason did Nigel Wright give for writing that $90,000 cheque?

[Ethics, June 4th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, Ms. Wallin did not do any fundraising for us when she was consul general for New York.

In December 2008, the Prime Minister appointed 18 senators.

Can the Prime Minister explain to Canadians why he chose Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin to sit in the Senate?