House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2015, with 64% of the vote.
Ethics November 6th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, the will of Canadians is crystal clear. They want the senators who claimed inappropriate expenses to no longer be on the public payroll.
The Liberal Party voted to keep those senators in office. Fortunately, the vast majority of Conservative senators voted to impose serious sanctions on those senators.
Ethics November 6th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, if the leader of the Liberal Party were indeed listening to Canadians, he would know that Canadians did expect those senators who broke or systematically disregarded expense rules to be removed from the public payroll. In fact, the Liberal Party did not do that, with one exception. The Liberal senators would have allowed the senators to continue without any sanction whatsoever.
Fortunately, the vast majority of Conservative senators felt otherwise and have imposed that sanction.
Ethics November 6th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Party had its chance in the Senate last night to demonstrate some kind of accountability. Of course what the Liberal senators did was exactly what we would expect, as they have all through this defended the rights of senators to do whatever they want to do, whether they are within the rules or not.
Once again, the Liberal Party on that side has exhibited the culture we have come to know from that party, which is the culture of one being entitled to his or her entitlements. On this side, we expect people to follow the rules.
Ethics November 6th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, I will remind the member, once again, that as soon as I became aware of these facts we made those facts available to the public.
We all know the party did not pay Mr. Duffy's inappropriate expenses. He was supposed to pay those himself. Indeed, he claimed he had paid those himself. He had not. Obviously, for that reason he is no longer a member of our caucus and has been further sanctioned by the Senate, as is appropriate.
Ethics November 6th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, the leader of the NDP is once again trying to pin the blame on one person for someone else's actions.
The facts here are absolutely clear. Mr. Wright has been very clear on all of these matters. He has taken full responsibility for his actions and he is being held accountable, as we expect in this party. We hold people personally accountable for their actions.
Ethics November 6th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, the leader of the NDP is again making allegations against others without any evidence. The facts are clear: Mr. Wright acted on his own initiative and he has taken responsibility for what he did. He is being held accountable for his actions.
Ethics November 6th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, once again, my clear view on this was that Mr. Duffy's expenses could not be justified. He had claimed expenses he had not incurred, and I had told him, including telling him directly, that he should repay those funds. I was later told that he had, which, of course, was not true. That is one of the reasons the Senate has acted as it has, and we congratulate it for that action.
Ethics November 6th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Wright has been very clear: he undertook these particular actions using his own resources, his own authority, and his own initiative. He has taken responsibility for that and is being held accountable.
I also note, of course, that last night the Senate held accountable the three senators who have systematically disregarded or violated spending rules, and we congratulate it for taking that action.
Ethics November 5th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, once again, if the Leader of the Opposition is trying to assert that in any way the money of the Prime Minister's Office or the money of the government was used to pay Mr. Duffy, that is completely incorrect. It was Mr. Wright himself using his own resources who paid Mr. Duffy, and then obviously Mr. Wright and Mr. Duffy allowed the Canadian public to be misled on what had actually occurred.
As I have said repeatedly, Mr. Wright has acknowledged that and accepted responsibility. He is no longer on the public payroll. One would think that the individual who still has the $90,000 in his pocket inappropriately would be removed from the public payroll, and it is about time the Senate did so.
Ethics November 5th, 2013
Mr. Speaker, once again, Mr. Wright has acknowledged that these were his actions, that he took them himself using his own resources, and he executed them. He is held responsible for those actions, as he should be, and as should obviously the senators who took the money from the taxpayers in the first place.
Mr. Duffy, who is apparently still not out any money for having actually taken money that he never actually spent in the first place, still has all that money, which is why the Senate should take the actions that are appropriate.