Pierre Poilievre

[Ethics, November 3rd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, the Liberals raised taxes on 87% of middle-class Canadians. Second, their child poverty claims were declared, even by The Canadian Press, to be a lot of baloney. Third, while the Liberals raised taxes on everybody else, the finance minister was very meticulous in ensuring that none of the tax increases applied to him or Morneau Shepell.

Once again, will he finally reveal what he is hiding in this vast network of numbered companies and trust funds, so Canadians can be assured that their finance minister is acting in the public interest, not for his private profit?

[Ethics, November 3rd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, we could all have a little more confidence in the truth of that statement if the finance minister would just come clean about the holdings he is sheltering in his vast network of numbered companies and trust funds.

It took investigative journalists to find out that he was hiding $20 million of holdings in Morneau Shepell, a financial company that he regulates, and a financial company on which he very carefully avoided imposing any new taxes.

Will the finance minister tell Canadians what holdings he is hiding in his numbered companies and trust funds, so they can know that he is acting in their interest and not his own?

[Ethics, November 3rd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, when the Minister of Finance announced his tax increases on small businesses and family farmers over the summer, he was meticulous in sheltering his assets from any higher taxes. If we only knew what holdings he had, we would know what taxes he will not raise. However, we do not know what holdings he has because he is hiding them in a myriad of numbered companies.

Will the finance minister tell us what holdings he is hiding in these numbered companies, so Canadians can surmise the small list of taxes that he will not raise?

[Ethics, November 2nd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, that minister hid an offshore company in France, and then he hid $20 million of Morneau Shepell shares from Canadians. Now that Canadians know he held those shares, because of investigative journalism and not because of his transparency, he has admitted that it was not the right thing to do, has sold those shares, and is now saying he will give back the ill-gotten gains. We need to know what other inappropriate investments the minister might be hiding in his holding companies. Why does he not tell us what is in those companies?

[Ethics, November 2nd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, the only way to know if he is making Canadians better off instead of just making himself better off is just to reveal what investments he has held over the last two years in his vast network of holding companies and trust funds. We just recently found out that the minister was taking $65,000 a month in dividends from a company that he simultaneously regulated. He introduced a bill that would help that company.

The only way to put all of this to bed and put an end to these questions for the minister is for him to come clean and tell us what he is hiding in those—

[Ethics, November 2nd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, earlier today, the finance minister said that our deputy leader cannot count, when in fact he is the one who is 100% over his promised deficit levels. He said that others do not know what assets are, when he is the one who just forgot to report his asset, an offshore company in France, to the Ethics Commissioner.

Instead of lashing out at others, why does the finance minister not just let go of all the secrets and tell Canadians what he is hiding in all of his holding companies?

[Ethics, November 2nd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I know the finance minister is getting irritated by the process of accountability around this place, but he did not reveal all of his assets to the Ethics Commissioner; he kept hidden his offshore company in France. That is why she found him in violation of the law and required that he pay a punitive fine. Now he is hiding other assets within different holding companies. He could make these questions go away if he would simply tell Canadians what he is hiding in his vast network of numbered companies and trust funds.

[Ethics, November 2nd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, the finance minister thinks he can make difficult questions about his secrets go away by lashing out personally against those asking those questions. Earlier today he made belittling comments about our deputy leader and others who are simply doing their jobs. The only thing that will make these questions go away is for the minister to finally answer them. The minister was hiding $20 million of Morneau Shepell shares in only one of his holding companies. Can he please tell us what else he is hiding in his other holding companies?

[Ethics, November 2nd, 2017]

Shame on you, Bill, you're being dishonest. You're being very dishonest.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No. 2, November 2nd, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, the member is absolutely right, that different people start with different wealth depending on the families into which they are born. That is why we need to guard against them using that wealth to acquire greater political power and use that power to acquire more wealth.

The Bombardier Beaudoin family is a great example, a family born with $1 billion of net worth. It is able to hire an army of lobbyists to come to Parliament Hill and get $400 million of interest-free loans, supported by the socialist NDP, by the way. In exchange for that, the family was able to give itself a 50% pay hike and retain control of a company in which it only had a minority interest through a complex web of special voting shares. All of that was facilitated and made possible by handouts from government.

That is how socialism works. The wealthy use its power to get more money from the government. The bigger the government is, the more concentrated the wealth becomes, because the greatest concentration of wealth is government.

Strategas Research has done a study showing that as government in Washington gets bigger, the spend on lobbying in that great capital goes up. It is almost a one-for-one correlation, because businesses go where they can get a return on investment. If all of the money is with the government, they invest in acquiring power within the government. We believe in dispersing wealth and power out into the hands of the people who earn it. That is how the free market system works.