Leona Alleslev

[Business of Supply, October 22nd, 2020]

Madam Speaker, the reason the opposition has put this motion forward today in Parliament is because we have been unable to study COVID at the health committee. Therefore, the purpose of this motion is to get the information required and make the health committee do the study. The opposition is united and Canadians want this information, but they have been unable to do it at committee. We have had to bring it to the House of Commons in order to direct the committee to do that work and get those documents so it can do it.

I would like to understand from my hon. colleague how he would propose the health committee do the work it needs to do without these critical documents.

[Business of Supply, October 22nd, 2020]

Madam Speaker, I would like to give my hon. colleague an opportunity to expand on the answer he gave to the previous question.

He made a comment on the production of documents, saying that committees have the right to documents and the committee is not getting those documents. We had to bring this motion to the House of Commons to actually be able to get those documents. In contrast, the Liberals are saying that they cannot produce those documents.

I want my colleague to give us a feel for why the timing of those documents matters, as well as why we need a motion in the House of Commons to be able to hold the Liberals to account concerning the timing of what documents they will produce.

[Business of Supply, October 20th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, I would not begin to imagine what the Liberals could possibly be up to.

Ultimately, we are here with the responsibility to investigate these matters. They are demonstrating a pattern of behaviour that circumvents all of the rules that we have in this place so that they can predetermine an outcome. We need a special committee just to ensure we get the information we need. We need to have a special committee chaired by an opposition party member so we can ensure that committee processes and procedures are upheld and not circumvented, as the Liberal members of Parliament are doing at committee.

It is egregious, devastating and depressing that our only ability to do the job we need to do in this crisis as members of Parliament is by proposing a special committee, and the Liberals are threatening an election if we are successful.

[Business of Supply, October 20th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question and comment.

It is very important for a government to have the confidence of the people, the citizens.

As someone of Danish heritage, I absolutely concur. I and have been able to understand and keep very close tabs because we still have family in Denmark. Their commitment to the transparency of government and to doing what is in the best interests of the public over and above their own personal interests has been instrumental in positioning them for success in the pandemic. As well, the military has a conversation, one that I have always lived by, service before self.

All we as members of Parliament, who are entrusted with the sacred responsibility of our citizens, are doing in this place is to honour that trust, hold the government accountable and ensure the—

[Business of Supply, October 20th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, I am very saddened to hear that my hon. colleague has misinterpreted what I said to such a grave extent.

It is the Liberal members on committee, the cabinet ministers and the Prime Minister who would use government funds, taxpayer dollars, to their personal gain and then work tirelessly to ensure that no transparency and none of that information can come to light. It is that pattern of behaviour and a culture of acceptance that their personal gains are above those of the Canadian interest. That is what members of Parliament have a responsibility to investigate and that is why this special committee is so needed.

[Business of Supply, October 20th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, the head of our non-partisan, hard-working public service chose that moment to retire. Liberal members on the House of Commons committees attempting to investigate shut down all attempts to get to the truth.

The Prime Minister was found guilty of a second ethics violation, but this time he showed no remorse. He had no intention of acting differently. He refused to apologize and instead doubled down, trying to convince us that it was okay to break the law for the right reasons, like helping his corporate friends escape the long arm of the law.

The Prime Minister has again used the powers of his office for personal gain. The Prime Minister attempted to award the WE Charity a $912-million government contract, $912 million in taxpayer dollars, in a closed, directed, no competition selection process. During a pandemic that has millions of Canadians struggling to pay their bills, our Prime Minister attempted to give hard-earned tax dollars to an organization to do what exactly?

For starters, an administration fee of $43.5 million would be pocketed directly by the WE Charity, a charity that just happened to have paid the Prime Minister's family and the family members of other members of his cabinet significant sums of money. Once again, the House of Commons committees investigating were stonewalled and then ultimately shut down when the Prime Minister prorogued Parliament, leaving Canadians with no government at all.

For a third time, the Prime Minister is being investigated for ethics violations.

However, this is not just a story about the Prime Minister. It is unfortunately much worse than that. The Prime Minister's actions send a message to others who would seek to break the rules, cheat and take advantage of their positions of power for personal gain. It gives them permission to put their personal agendas before the best interests of the country. It becomes a culture of acceptance of corruption, because, after all, if the Prime Minister can do it, why should they not?

For example, the former finance minister, Bill Morneau, was investigated for conflict of interest violations for a corporation that held a French villa that he forgot to disclose. He was also investigated for failing to put the shares of his company in a blind trust and then introduced pension legislation changes that would benefit corporations like his. Morneau also forgot to disclose or pay back the all-expenses paid $40,000-plus vacation that WE Charity gave him and his family. Yes, that is the same WE Charity. Coincidentally, two of his daughters have worked extensively with WE. Morneau was about to be investigated for ethics violations but instead resigned as a minister and a member of Parliament.

The list goes on. What about when the President of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs broke the law when, as fisheries minister, he approved an Arctic surf clam licence to the company his wife works for; or when the $84 million contract to administer the Canadian emergency commercial rent assistance program was out-sourced to the company that PMO chief of staff Katie Telford's husband works for?

What about the former Liberal Raj Grewal who allegedly received $6 million that he did not disclose to the Ethics Commissioner? Documents also claim that he solicited funds by deceit, falsehood or other fraudulent means in connection with his duties of office as a member of Parliament.

These are just the cases that have been uncovered. Like the tip of the iceberg, if this is the pattern of corruption that we can see, we can barely imagine the magnitude of what has not yet come to light or what the government wants to ensure never comes to light.

House of Commons committees are Parliament's version of the military's MACR, from a junior officer's time all those years ago. Committees are our checks and balances. The purpose of committees is to investigate and to problem solve. Committees hold governments to account, identify where they have failed. Committees are the work that members of Parliament get paid to do to deliver fair, equal and improved services for Canadians.

The Liberal members are shutting down committees. They are working to keep the full extent of the Prime Minister's transgressions hidden. They are determined to keep Canadians in the dark. Liberal MPs are complicit in the cover-up.

When the government acts this way, breaking the law, circumventing rules and processes, shutting down committees and refusing to release documents and completely redacting the ones they do, it sends one clear message. It is not acting in the bests interests of Canada and it is not putting the needs of Canadians ahead of itself.

I was not raised to turn a blind eye to such behaviour and my constituents in Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill have not sent me here to turn a blind eye. The citizens of the country did not elect the Prime Minister to use the powers of office for his own gain and Canadians did not elect members of Parliament to help him cover it up.

During this pandemic billions of dollars are being spent. We need a special House of Commons committee to investigate how they are being spent. We need the facts. We need to uncover the truth. We need to know how bad it is and we need to fix it fast.

Canadians deserve honesty and transparency. When will this culture of corruption stop? When will we say enough is enough?

[Business of Supply, October 20th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, when I was a junior air force officer, my first posting was as the procurement officer for 19 Wing Comox on Vancouver Island. I was responsible for everything that was bought or leased on the base. In other words, anyone working on the base who needed something had to get it through me.

My decisions were not arbitrary or made on a whim. Before I was assigned the job, I spent many months in training as a military logistician, studying over 20 volumes of the Canadian Forces publication 181, supply manuals, defence procurement policies, the Financial Administration Act and many other related documents. There were processes and procedures for everything. Just to obtain approval to procure a commercial coffee maker required 10 signatures on a material authorization change request, or MACR for short. Those 10 people included the base commander, a squadron commander, a flight commander and me, just to name a few.

This bureaucracy was tiresome to be sure, but it was essential to upholding that no one, not even the base commander, could use military funds, and by extension public money, to, for example, pay for an outrageously expensive coffee machine purchased sole-source, which happened to include a million-dollar administration fee for someone's husband. There was no room for misconduct.

As officers, we endured the necessary piles of paperwork to ensure that tax dollars were spent wisely and to preserve the honesty and integrity of the organization and everyone in it. If these were the high standards to which a junior air force procurement officer is held, should they be any less for the highest office in the land?

Let us talk about the Prime Minister and his pattern of behaviour of breaking the rules, giving money to his friends, using Liberal members to cover it up and firing anyone who dares to stand in his way. Let us talk about the Prime Minister's pattern of corruption.

His first transgression was the gift of an all-expenses-paid Christmas vacation for him, his family and his friends to an island in the Bahamas. The rules require that members of Parliament disclose any gift over $200. The Prime Minister was found guilty of breaking the Conflict of Interest Act. He apologized. Seamus O'Regan, a minister of the Crown who joined the Prime Minister on this trip, never disclosed the vacation as a gift.

Then came the SNC-Lavalin scandal. SNC was charged with fraud and corruption, and was seeking a way to get out of facing the full consequences of breaking the law. It looked to our Prime Minister to use his powers to circumvent the law and tip the scales in SNC's favour. A justice minister stood in his way and upheld the rule of law. For her efforts, she was fired as justice minister and thrown out of the Liberal Party. There was no place in the Liberal Party for honourable actions like that. The key adviser and friend to the Prime Minister, Gerry Butts, resigned.

[Infrastructure, October 8th, 2020]

However, Mr. Speaker, this government will not invest in the Yonge subway extension.

The business case to extend the Yonge subway line is obvious. The Yonge line is bursting at the seams with 800,000 commuters a day and almost 100,000 of them passing through Finch. The Yonge subway extension would create 60,000 jobs, reduce gridlock and deliver economic growth for the entire GTA.

The need for a Union Station of the north in York Region is clear. What is the real reason that the government will not invest?

[Infrastructure, October 8th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, for 16 years, the Yonge subway extension has been a priority for York Region, but the Liberal government refuses to invest.

York Region delivered a business case in 2009 and another business case in 2013. In 2017, this government invested in a preliminary design and engineering study. It would not have done this if the project was not sound.

What are the Liberals hiding? What is the real reason the government will not invest?

[Infrastructure, September 29th, 2020]

Mr. Speaker, the Yonge subway business case has been obvious since it was built in 1954. It is even more obvious today.

The Yonge subway extension would create over 60,000 jobs and enable housing for over 88,000 residents. That is in addition to providing much-needed public transit for thousands of York region residents. The Ontario government has committed to the project, but the Liberals refuse.

When will the government stop hiding behind a smoke screen and fund the Yonge subway extension?