House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2015, with 64% of the vote.
Democratic Reform February 11th, 2014
Mr. Speaker, there was no such fraud in the last election. For the next election, the fact is that there will be an independent election commissioner who will have full authority to conduct investigations.
The difficulty here is the NDP, as its spokesman conceded, decided to oppose the bill before reading it.
I obviously would encourage those members to use the weeks ahead of us to actually read things.
Democratic Reform February 11th, 2014
Mr. Speaker, there is no such thing. On the contrary, the Chief Electoral Officer is required under multiple provisions of the act to speak and to make reports on various occasions.
Ethics February 5th, 2014
Mr. Speaker, clearly what the Leader of the Opposition says are not the facts. The RCMP has been very clear in terms of the matter between Mr. Duffy and Mr. Wright that I was not informed of that. The RCMP has been crystal clear on that.
Ethics February 5th, 2014
Mr. Speaker, it is the RCMP's responsibility to conduct the investigations.
The RCMP has been clear about who is and who is not being investigated. Obviously, what the Leader of the Opposition has said is not factual.
Ethics February 5th, 2014
Mr. Speaker, as I have said repeatedly, there are various standards that have to be met to be appointed to the Senate. It is a matter of fact, as we know, that members of Parliament in both Houses more often than not maintain two residences. The fact that a member maintains two residences is not at issue here. What is at issue is the improper, and in some cases fraudulent, claiming of expenses. The government has been very clear that is not acceptable, that there would be consequences. Those senators are now seeing those consequences.
The Budget February 5th, 2014
Mr. Speaker, Canadians and economic experts around the world, including the OECD and the IMF, recognize that Canada has gone through the recession and come out of the recession with among the strongest growth and employment rates and records in the developed world. The prospects for continued growth going forward, according to all of these experts, are very strong and the government is, in almost every case, following the various recommendations that these organizations suggest.
On all these things, I am sure I could suggest any number of people who could walk the leader of the Liberal Party through it.
Taxation February 5th, 2014
Mr. Speaker, I certainly look forward to seeing the day where the leader of the Liberal Party does explain his positions to various economists.
The Liberal Party regularly proposes tax increases that affect Canadian consumers and taxpayers. That is not something that our party supports.
The Liberal Party defends special exemptions for Chinese industries. That is not acceptable.
Taxation February 5th, 2014
Mr. Speaker, of course, nothing would be further from the truth. What the government did do is to make sure that Canadian producers were on a level playing field with some specific countries, emerging economies that are very powerful economies that had special tax preferences. Obviously, that is not appropriate. Our government remains committed to balancing the budget and rejecting all of the various tax increases proposed by the hon. member and his party.
Democratic Reform February 5th, 2014
Mr. Speaker, the opposite is true. The fair elections act lays out specifically the jobs of Elections Canada to make sure it informs people, where, when, and how to vote, and what ID specifically to use at a vote.
Many of these reforms are long overdue. They will sharpen law enforcement, strengthen the reach of law enforcement personnel, and correct many of the deficiencies that were well documented in the review of the last election campaign.
As long as the NDP sinks into conspiracy theories and rejects the verdict of Canadians in the last election, we will be happy to receive continued mandates from them.
Democratic Reform February 5th, 2014
Mr. Speaker, I would like to note that this proposal, the fair elections act, arms Elections Canada with methods of providing more information about when and where the voting is taking place and about the voting process. Elections Canada needs to be able to do its work. This legislation helps it do just that.