Pierre Poilievre

[Aerospace Industry, April 7th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, we now learn that only five days after the current government provided a $372 million loan to Bombardier, executives at the company decided to pay themselves a 50% pay hike, in addition to retaining the dual share class structure, which allows the billionaire Bombardier Beaudoin family to control a majority of shares with only a minority of stocks. This Conservative Party wants to bring those executives before a parliamentary committee to answer questions about their conduct. Why will the Prime Minister not support such hearings?

[Foreign Affairs, April 7th, 2017]

As does the Conservative Party support the United States' missile strikes against the Syrian regime in the aftermath of its chemical weapons attacks on its own civilians, Mr. Speaker.

That said, yesterday that was not the Prime Minister's position. At that point, he said it was not even clear who was responsible for the chemical attacks on Syrian civilians, and that the UN Security Council needed to hold another meeting, which would include a veto power by the Russian federation. When will the Prime Minister stop being so dangerously naive and confront this dictator and tyrant?

[Foreign Affairs, April 7th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is being dangerously naive on Syria. Yesterday, he said that the United Nations Security Council needed to have a meeting, pass resolutions, and hold an investigation to find out who was originally responsible for the chemical attacks against Syrian civilians, including children. Only hours later, the United States launched missile strikes against the origins of those very chemical attacks. Why is it that the Prime Minister continues to put all of his faith in the Security Council, which has failed to confront Bashar al-Assad?

[Taxation, April 6th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, all of this raises a question of how the government defines the middle class.

There is $372 million for Bombardier billionaires; however, everyday Canadians will pay more for gas and groceries, kids' sports, Uber rides, beer, and bus passes.

Why is the government taxing more from those who take the bus, so it can give more to those who take limousines?

[Aerospace Industry, April 6th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, members of the billionaire Bombardier Beaudoin family have super-voting shares that give them a majority of the votes with a minority of the stocks.

That allows family members to elect themselves to be executives and pay themselves, in the case of Pierre Beaudoin, 10 times the industry average. If the company raised money by issuing shares, they would dilute their votes and lose company control.

Is it not true that the government bailout is really about protecting the feudal privileges of this billionaire family?

[Aerospace Industry, April 6th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, on Monday the government reported to the House in writing that no deal had yet been signed with Bombardier.

Yesterday the office of the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development said the deal was sealed by March 24, five days before the company announced a 50% pay hike for its executives. What a coincidence. Now each of these executives will earn more in four days than the average Canadian earns all year long. I guess they will not have to work on Fridays either.

If this agreement actually exists, did it ban Bombardier from using Canadian tax dollars for these outrageous bonuses?

[Aerospace Industry, April 5th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, the company is actually cutting jobs, 14,000 of them, while the Liberals hand over millions to billionaire executives, but it is not too late to stop it. We learned today that the deal is not signed and the government still has time to impose new conditions.

Why will the Liberals not tell Bombardier that either it cancels its bonuses and its pay hikes until taxpayers get repaid or it will not get the money at all?

[Aerospace Industry, April 5th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, earlier this week the government quietly tabled a response to an Order Paper question revealing that the $372-million Bombardier agreement has not been signed or finalized. It is not a done deal, so the Liberals have time to stop this outrageous taxpayer-funded bail-out of incompetent billionaire executives. The Liberals could, for example, reduce the amount they are handing Bombardier by the same amount Bombardier is paying its executives.

Before the Liberals sign this deal and send the money, why will they not ban Bombardier billionaires from pocketing it?

[The Budget, April 4th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, the company is actually laying off jobs after it received taxpayers' money. In fact, these six executives will earn more than the average 600 Canadians. That is what the Liberals meant, I guess, when they said they were going to help the middle class and those working to join it.

This budget forces middle-class taxpayers to pay higher taxes for groceries and gas, for beer and bus passes, for almost everything, while the wealthiest one per cent make off like bandits.

Will the Liberals finally admit that their whole middle-class agenda was a fraud?

[Aerospace Industry, April 4th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, the salary for the Canada Post CEO is set out in a cabinet order at $523,000 a year, yet Bombardier executives will earn 10 times that amount each in current and deferred compensation, just as the Prime Minister hands them $400 million in tax dollars. If these executives had earned the same amount as the Canada Post CEO, the company would have saved enough money to hire more than 500 middle-class Canadians.

Why did the government not require it to do that before handing over such a big chunk of change?