Paul Calandra

[Ethics, November 19th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, nothing could be further from the truth. This is coming from a member who was in a government that went to the Supreme Court of Canada to protect the Access to Information Act and stop minister's offices from being subject to that act

At the same time, it is quite clear that Nigel Wright has accepted full and sole responsibility for this. He is prepared to accept the consequences of that.

It is also very clear that the Liberals will do anything to protect the status quo in the Senate. They have proved that by defending these three disgraced senators and former disgraced Liberal Senator Mac Harb. They will go to the wall every day for disgraced senators but not for taxpayers. That is why they are over there.

[Ethics, November 19th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister has said, even a few minutes ago, we are assisting as best we can with anything that the RCMP has asked.

[Ethics, November 19th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure what else needs to be said. Here yet again the Liberals go defending these three senators and disgraced former Liberal Senator Mac Harb, who defrauded Canadian taxpayers of thousands of dollars. They stood in the way of the Senate seeking accountability for them. They stand every day in the House looking to defend the status quo in the Senate. I guess that is the Liberals' position, always entitled to their entitlements.

On this side of the House, we will stand up for Canadian taxpayers day in and day out, even if that means challenging the status quo.

[Points of Order, November 18th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, last week, in response to a question from the member for Vancouver Quadra, I called the member a disgrace.

I am told that is unparliamentary, and I withdraw that. I did not appropriately make the distinction between the disgraceful question and the member, so I withdraw that.

[Health, November 18th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, promoting the legalization of illicit substances to young children is completely unacceptable and completely inappropriate. The Liberal leader should immediately apologize to the parents in Brandon, and to parents across Canada.

Being an overgrown flower child is no excuse for the remarkably poor display of judgment that the leader shows.

[41st General Election, November 18th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, this is coming from a member who is surrounded by people who have actually broken the Federal Accountability Act with leadership debts that they have refused to pay or do not want to pay. This is coming from a member who sat in a caucus in a cabinet that stole money from Canadians with something called the “sponsorship scandal”, something we are still looking for.

When it comes to accountability, the Liberals have nothing to tell Canadians about it because they have never stood up for accountable government. They talk about taxes only during election. They turn their backs on the taxpayer in between.

On this side of the House, we stand up for Canadians every day.

[41st General Election, November 18th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, as I have already stated, we will continue to assist in this investigation and at the same time, we expect that anyone who tried to do any illegal actions during the election would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. That is the standard we accept on this side of the House.

It is unfortunate the Liberals have a different standard. We know, of course, it was only the member for Guelph who has been convicted of any robocalling infraction at this point and I believe the NDP member for Ottawa Centre as well. On this side of the House we stand up for Canadian taxpayers day in and day out and we continue to do so.

[41st General Election, November 18th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, again, this is the Liberals trying to defend the status quo. They are trying to make victims out of the three current senators and disgraced former Liberal senator Mac Harb. We are not going to do this on this side of the House. We were very appreciative that the Senate passed a motion that would suspend these three senators without pay. Unfortunately, the Liberals tried very hard to defend the status quo because, as we know, the Liberals are always entitled to their entitlements and they will do anything to protect that.

On this side of the House we will always put Canadian taxpayers first, and that is what we continue to do day in and day out.

[41st General Election, November 18th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, as I said on a number of occasions, we will continue to assist on this matter. We obviously take this very seriously. That is why the Minister of State for Democratic Reform is working on some new proposals which will make our elections even fairer. However, let us be very clear. It was the NDP that accepted illegal contributions from its union buddies.

It is quite obvious that when it comes to accountability, this side of the House expects accountability. That is why our first piece of legislation when we formed government was the Federal Accountability Act, to take the influence of big money and big unions out of the political process. We are living by that. We are proud of that. Unfortunately, opposition members are breaking the rules all the time.

[41st General Election, November 18th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, here they go again. First, it is the senators who are the victims. First, it is the senators who defrauded Canadian taxpayers. They are the victims. They are the ones they stand up for with their Liberal partners. Now, when it comes to this investigation, it is quite clear that Elections Canada has brought forward an individual who it thinks it responsible. We will let the courts decide that full responsibility.

Let us be clear. Anybody who is found to have acted inappropriately during elections should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We will continue to assist Elections Canada on this.