House of Commons photoLost his last election, in 2015, with 43% of the vote.
Ethics November 29th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, Deloitte was in front of the Senate committee just yesterday. From what I understand, the three auditors who undertook this audit on behalf of the Senate maintain that full confidentiality was maintained at all times and that Canadians could have, and should have, confidence in the work that they did.
Ethics November 29th, 2013
Again, Mr. Speaker, the headline is completely inaccurate.
Ethics November 29th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, the audit was actually undertaken by Deloitte and not by the Prime Minister's Office. Deloitte has maintained that the audit was done with the utmost in confidentiality, and Deloitte supports that audit.
Canadians can have full confidence that the work that was done with respect to the audit was done confidentially and is an appropriate report.
Based on that, of course, that is why this government and the Conservative senators moved to have these three senators expelled from the Senate without pay.
Ethics November 29th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, as Deloitte said yesterday, quite correctly, that the utmost in confidentiality was maintained as this audit was undertaken.
I trust Deloitte. It has a fabulous reputation for the work it does, and as Deloitte said, full confidentiality was maintained at all times.
Ethics November 29th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, a clear answer is that the article the hon. member refers to is actually inaccurate.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation November 29th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, the CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices make clear that:
To ensure we maintain our independence, we do not pay for information from a source in a story.
When CBC's The National aired a report about U.S. activities during the G8 and G20, neither Peter Mansbridge nor Greg Weston disclosed that they had paid their source, Glenn Greenwald. Greenwald is a Brazilian-based former porn industry executive, now assisting Edward Snowden to leak national security information.
CBC only admitted to its cash for news scheme after The Wall Street Journal forced it out. CBC is trying to justify the violation of its own ethical standards by claiming that Greenwald is a freelancer.
Greenwald has strong and controversial opinions about national security. Of course, that is his right. However, when CBC pays for news, we have to ask why furthering Glenn Greenwald's agenda and lining his Brazilian bank account more important than maintaining the public broadcaster's journalistic integrity?
Ethics November 28th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, what Deloitte confirmed was that in the process of doing this audit, the utmost in confidentiality was maintained at all times. When faced with the result of the audit, of course we know that the Liberals fought very hard to maintain the status quo in the Senate.
In contrast, the Conservatives in the Senate brought forward accountability measures in June, which Liberals were not in favour of, and when it came to expelling these three senators without pay, we know how hard the Liberals fought against that. They are always entitled to their entitlements, but they never seem to want to stand up for Canadian taxpayers.
Ethics November 28th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, unlike a number of the members in the Liberal caucus, Mr. Rogers is not under investigation. The RCMP quite clearly state that they are investigating Nigel Wright and Senator Duffy, Senator Duffy for accepting payments that he did not incur, and Nigel Wright for repaying those expenses.
That was inappropriate. It was also inappropriate how hard the Liberals fought against the repayment of that and against accountability for these three senators, constantly fighting for the status quo, which includes the status quo in their caucus.
Ethics November 28th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, the RCMP documents quite clearly state that Mr. Woodcock is not the subject of an investigation.
I would ask the hon. member if he could turn behind him and ask the member for Kings—Hants if the behaviour he showed during the income trust was acceptable. The member for Wascana does not seem to think it was, so by that same standard, I wonder if he will be looking for the resignations of the member for Kings—Hants and the member for Wascana.
Ethics November 28th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, again, Mr. Perrin is not the subject of any investigation. This is in respect to Senator Duffy accepting a payment that he did not incur, and Nigel Wright repaying that. That is what this is about.
Again, I tried to make the comparison, why we think it is so wrong on this side of the House and why we fought for accountability in the Senate, because it would be inappropriate to do that. It would be like the Leader of the Opposition accepting per diems at Stornoway and then saying that his home in Montreal was a secondary residence.
We know he has lived there a long time. I am sure he does not do that. That would be inappropriate and the Canadian taxpayers would think that is inappropriate. That is why we fought for accountability in the Senate so hard, and why we will continue to fight for taxpayers and accountability.