House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2015, with 64% of the vote.
Ethics December 5th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, I will say once again what I said yesterday. There are rules in terms of retention of records. Retained records are kept by the bureaucracy. As soon as the bureaucracy realized it had information that was relevant to the investigation, it immediately made that information known and turned it over to the RCMP.
Ethics December 5th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, as I said, it is the responsibility of employees to follow the rules on records retention. Records are retained by the bureaucracy. When the bureaucracy realized that it had this information, it made this information available to the RCMP.
Ethics December 5th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, the auditors who performed the audit have already testified before the Senate, and they testified as to the integrity of their audit.
Ethics December 5th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, the auditors have in fact already testified before the Senate, and they have testified to the integrity of their audit.
Rail Transportation December 5th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, there is obviously an inquiry into this incident. It would be premature to suggest, as the leader of the NDP does, that he knows all of the facts. However, I think that the facts that we do know indicate pretty clearly that rules were not abided by.
This government has made significant investments in the rail safety system and in strengthening rail protection rules. This government is continuing to work with the community and others to ensure that we do more of that going forward.
Rail Transportation December 5th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, there is an ongoing inquiry into this incident. It is clear that rules were not abided by. Of course our hearts go out to those affected by the death of these 44 people. That is why I visited the community that weekend. I also went there more recently to work with the mayor and the community on a plan for reconstruction.
Rail Transportation December 5th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, the truth is that the government has invested record amounts in rail safety. Since 2006, the number of inspections has increased by 4%. The government will continue to improve the system.
Ethics December 4th, 2013
Once again, Mr. Speaker, I have made known my position on this for some time. Obviously members of Parliament and senators have more than one residence. That is a situation we understand.
What we felt was inappropriate, in the circumstance, was that a senator was living at a long-time residence when, in fact, claiming a travel expense that was obviously not appropriate, which is why I indicated to Mr. Duffy that I thought he should repay those monies.
Ethics December 4th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, no information was hidden in this case. The RCMP has said so itself.
Ethics December 4th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, once again, as the bureaucracy itself has said, the Prime Minister's Office asked specifically for that information from the bureaucracy and was told that it was not available. The bureaucracy says that error was inadvertent.
Obviously, we would have preferred to turn all information over to the RCMP at the same time.
Officials having discovered that they made the error, I congratulate them for admitting it and for sending that information immediately to the RCMP.