Paul Calandra

[Ethics, October 31st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, again, Senator Duffy went on TV and told Canadians that he took out a loan on his home and repaid his expenses.

We are not talking about the leader of the NDP here, who waited 17 years to talk about the fact that he was offered a bribe and then was not sure if he was or was not. Then, of course, he admitted that yes, he was offered a bribe. Imagine what we could have saved the people of Quebec if only the Leader of the Opposition, 17 years ago, would have told police that he was offered an illegal bribe. That is shameful.

On this side of the House, we demand accountability. We have a motion before the Senate right now to do what Canadians want: get accountability from the Senate. The Liberals in the Senate need to get out of the way and let us pass that motion.

[Ethics, October 31st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, Mike Duffy went on TV and told Canadians that he repaid his expenses by taking out a mortgage on his home. I note that the opposition, I do not think, asked any questions about this until May 15, when it was reported, and we all knew, that that was not actually the case. That was wrong. It was wrong for Nigel Wright to have made that payment on his behalf, and it is wrong right now that Mr. Duffy will not accept responsibility for what he has done.

We are going to extract that responsibility, hopefully by passing this motion in the Senate, and the Senate can get to the motion and pass it, and we will do what Canadians want: accountability for the senators, nothing less.

[Ethics, October 31st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, on February 13, when he was approached by Mike Duffy to try to justify his inappropriate expenses, the Prime Minister told to him to repay those inappropriate expenses that he did not earn.

Mr. Duffy went on TV and then said that he made those payments by taking out a loan at the Royal Bank. We subsequently, obviously, found out that it was not true, that Nigel Wright did that. Nigel Wright has taken sole and full responsibility. He knows that what he did was wrong, and he is prepared to accept accountability.

We have a motion in the Senate right now, and we hope that the senators will pass the motion that would strip these individuals of their pay, because that is what Canadians want, and that is what the vast majority of this caucus wants.

[Ethics, October 31st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, there go the Liberals supporting Senator Duffy and these disgraced senators.

Recently the new Liberal finance critic was on a panel with the Liberal leader and she talked about the fact that she was worried that today's job prospects are not about how smart or educated one is but have more to do with what one's father did. I know she was not talking about me because my dad was a really great hairdresser, he was a great pizza maker and I am not that talented. I wonder who she could be talking about. I will have to ask the Liberal leader who he thinks she was talking about when he makes it back into the House. Who could be—

[Ethics, October 31st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, hearing the Liberals talk about ethics is like watching a snake come out of its skin. The snake will come out looking all shiny and new, but it is really the same dangerous snake it was before. That is what the Liberals are. They are standing in the way of ethics and accountability in the Senate. Their senators need to get out of the way and let the Senate pass this motion so that we can strip these senators of their pay. That is the level of accountability Canadians want. Only the Liberals and the NDP support these senators and are trying to make victims out of these people who took from Canadians.

[Ethics, October 31st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, hearing this member talk about government accountability is really odd. The member was part of a cabinet that funnelled important government advertising money into the Liberal Party. Apparently, he did not know anything about it and the Liberal prime minister at the time did not know anything about it. Rather, it was all the public works minister, a public works minister who had the time to also cut a cheque for a Liberal cabinet minister to cover the expenses of his son's wedding. The Liberals liked him so much they elevated him from an honourable to an excellency by sending him to Denmark.

Give me a break. They have nothing to teach anyone on ethics and accountability.

[Ethics, October 31st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, I refer the hon. member to affidavits that were recently filed in court.

[Ethics, October 31st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, clearly what is happening here is that they have nothing to talk about.

The NDP members do not want to talk about the fact that the Canadian economy continues to grow. They do not want to talk about the fact that we have opened Canada to a market of 500 million new consumers. They do not want to talk about the fact that we are focused on community safety.

They do not want to talk about the great work of our Minister of National Defence who is providing our troops with the equipment they need to get the job done. They do not want to talk about the fact that our Minister of Natural Resources is opening up new markets for our resources. They do not want to talk about the fact that the Minister of Finance is seeing our deficit reduced by an additional $7 billion and we are on track to a balanced budget.

They want to talk about the fact that they want to protect these senators. We do not. We are on the side of Canadians. We want them suspended without pay.

[Ethics, October 31st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, this, coming from a party that actually wanted to have a coalition government with the Liberals. The NDP wanted six seats in the Liberal cabinet.

Now, all of a sudden, the Liberals are the worst party ever, but the NDP was ready at one point to set aside what Canadians wanted, when they voted us into office, and to form a coalition government with the Liberals. Wow. It is all over the place. It is trick or treat all day; trick and treat, both of them together.

[Ethics, October 31st, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, again I will refer the hon. member to affidavits recently filed in court.

However, while I have the floor I will also mention the fact that again today we see that the Canadian economy grew by over 2% annually. That is really good news for the Canadian economy.

When they talk about shovelling and talk about digging, of course the opposition members keep digging into this because they know they do not want to talk about the things that Canadians are concerned about: jobs, growth and safe communities. If they talk about that, they know they will be on the wrong side of Canadians.

It is this party that is on the right side of Canadians. It is this party that will continue to work to grow the economy and create jobs, even if the opposition gets in the way all the time. Canadians can count on us to focus on the economy.