Peter Kent

[Foreign Affairs, April 18th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Mississauga—Erin Mills excused her words at an event featuring a notorious apologist for the war crimes of Syrian President Assad, an event hosted by Palestine House, long associated with anti-Israel extremism and terror, by saying that she was only meeting with a diverse array of individuals.

Diversity does not excuse pandering to extremist organizations in the Prime Minister's name. Again, will the Prime Minister renounce this unacceptable solicitation of votes?

[Foreign Affairs, April 17th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Mississauga—Erin Mills may be willing to stand with an extremist supporter she addresses as “brother Amin”. She may be willing to praise a man who denies President Assad is a murderer and a butcher in return for support in the next federal election.

Will the Prime Minister disassociate himself from this misguided tribute to extremism made by the member in the Prime Minister's name?

[Foreign Affairs, April 17th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, what we have here is a blatant, inexcusable endorsement of a notorious apologist for the brutal terror sponsoring, human rights abusing President of Syria, words of praise not offered by a merely misguided member of Parliament pandering for votes with an organization with a history of support for extremism and terror, but on a behalf of the Prime Minister of Canada.

Will the Prime Minister distance himself from this outrageous tribute in his name?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, April 16th, 2018]

With regard to government expenditures in relation to the Prime Minister’s attendance at the Young Changemakers Conclave and, specifically, the event at Indira Ghandi Stadium in New Delhi on February 24, 2018: (a) how much did the government pay to sponsor the event; (b) does the government consider the map of “India” displayed at the event to be an accurate representation of India’s borders; and (c) if the answer to (b) is negative, what actions has the government taken in order to address the validity of the representation displayed on the map?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, March 29th, 2018]

With regard to the Trudeau Report: (a) what does the government consider to be the report’s “recommendations”; and (b) what specific action has the government taken to implement each recommendation in (a)?

[Ethics, March 29th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government has abandoned even a half-hearted acknowledgement of members and ministers' ethical obligations under the Conflict of Interest Act and Code.

Again, there was a question asked and not answered yesterday. Will the Prime Minister and will the Liberal government, disgraced by a spectrum of ethical lapses and violations, do the right thing and clean up the mess themselves or are they leaving it, once again, to the Ethics Commissioner?

[Ethics, March 29th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the Conflict of Interest Code demands that all members uphold their public duties with honesty and fulfill to the highest standard so as to avoid real or apparent conflicts of interest. The member's conduct goes well beyond apparent conflict. This is a blatantly formalized case of a cash for access retainer.

Was the member's boss invited on the India trip to seek business in India or was he invited to hang with the Prime Minister, the Minister of Infrastructure , and the Minister of Innovation to get an inside track on contracts in Canada?

[Oceans Act, March 26th, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, my thanks to my hon. colleague for his remarks, although he somewhat misrepresented the amount of marine protected areas accomplished under the previous Conservative government and that were in the process when the Liberal government came to power.

Previous changes to the Fisheries Act under the Conservative government provided for predictability, certainty, and timely review for those covered by the act. Conservatives have long supported protection of our lakes, oceans, and our fisheries. However, one of our many concerns with the bill is that it undermines transparency in that it gives the minister the power to withhold information from certain proponents.

What happened to the Liberal commitment to greater transparency?

[Privacy, March 22nd, 2018]

That is simply not adequate, Mr. Speaker. One is measured by those with whom one associates.

Could the minister explain to the House whether the mining of Canadians' social media data, and the use of the results of such analysis to tilt future Canadian election outcomes falls under Mr. Thalmann's responsibilities as the director of special projects for the Prime Minister?

[Privacy, March 22nd, 2018]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals assure us the 2016 pilot data project and contract with Mr. Wylie was one time, a quick $100,000 out the door, contract ended, let us move on.

We now know two senior Liberal data specialists were on stage with Mr. Wylie at a conference later that year. One of them was the Liberal research bureau's director, and the other Brett Thalmann, now the director of special projects in the Prime Minister's Office.

Could the minister explain this continuing relationship with Mr. Wylie at the highest levels of the PMO?