Stephen Harper

[Ethics, October 29th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, this individual is not accused of anything.

I talked about how we dealt with this. Let us talk about how the NDP deals with these sorts of things. New Democrats tell us that we should fire or expel people on the flimsiest of allegations without, in some cases, any proof of anything against anybody. Then when we determine that actions should be taken, the Leader of the Opposition stands up and pretends these people are somehow victims of arbitrary actions. We will take the appropriate action regardless of what the leader of the NDP says.

[Ethics, October 29th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, that statement is not correct. The reality is that in a case like this, the prime minister has the responsibility to demand corrective action and when corrective action is not taken, to ensure accountability.

That is our responsibility, not to tell people things are going to be perfect, but when things go wrong to take corrective action and when corrective action is not taken, to ensure accountability. That is our responsibility and that is what we are doing.

[Ethics, October 29th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, once again, the government does not defend the actions of Mr. Duffy.

Mr. Duffy collected $90,000 in expenses that we consider to be inappropriate. We have been very clear from the beginning with him that he should have repaid this. I was assured that he had. He assured the entire Canadian public that he had in fact done so.

He had not. That is why he should face the appropriate sanctions.

[Ethics, October 29th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, the Senate has conducted audits on Senate expenses and continues to do so.

This is completely appropriate. Once again I go back. In the case of the three senators we are talking about, the facts are not in question. There are hundreds of thousands of dollars of expenses that have been collected that were either outside the rules or clearly inappropriate.

Everybody believes that. Those are the facts. I know that these particular senators feel no particular regret, or very little regret, for any of this. For that reason, they should obviously face the appropriate sanction and be removed from the public payroll.

[Ethics, October 29th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, this is extraordinary. The leader of the NDP thinks he can believe Mr. Duffy, who said on national television that he took out a loan against his assets to repay money he had taken inappropriately from the taxpayers, and who now turns around and says that, by the way, he never should have repaid any of it, that he was entitled to it all the time, and that it is not his fault that he made up these lies on national television. That is Mr. Duffy's responsibility and the reason why he should be sanctioned.

[Ethics, October 29th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, once again, on our side there is one person responsible for this deception, and that person is Mr. Wright, by his own admission. For that reason, Mr. Wright no longer works for us. Mr. Duffy should not either.

As I have said repeatedly, the concern of the Prime Minister of Canada in this case is that taxpayer money not be misused. Taxpayer money was misused. It should be repaid. Mr. Duffy has still not repaid it and should face sanction.

[Ethics, October 29th, 2013]

Once again, Mr. Speaker, political parties do provide legal assistance to their members from time to time.

The fact of the matter is that we are talking about money that was taken inappropriately from taxpayers. It was the view of everybody on this side that the money should be reimbursed to the taxpayers. We were also assured not only that it would be but that it had been done. That was obviously untrue. The individual in my office who did that has faced the sanction. Mr. Duffy should face an appropriate sanction.

[Ethics, October 29th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, our position is that Mr. Duffy should repay his inappropriate Senate expense claims.

Once again, my position was that Mr. Duffy should repay expenses himself, the money that he had taken from taxpayers for expenses he had not actually incurred. That money should be repaid to the taxpayers of Canada. That was not done. In fact, a fabrication that it was done was made. For that reason, Mr. Duffy should face the appropriate sanctions in the Senate.

[Ethics, October 29th, 2013]

Once again, Mr. Speaker, the senator in question has been accused of absolutely nothing.

The perpetrators here are absolutely clear in this particular affair. Mr. Duffy took expenses he should never have taken and then he falsely claimed to have repaid them. Mr. Wright repaid those on his behalf and did not properly inform me and others that that is what happened. That is why Mr. Wright has faced the sanction that he has. Mr. Duffy should also be removed from the public payroll.

[Ethics, October 29th, 2013]

Once again, Mr. Speaker, the leader of the NDP is trying to argue that Mr. Duffy was being threatened with some kind of inappropriate sanctions. Mr. Duffy was being threatened with sanctions because he collected expenses he should not have collected. He should have repaid those and he did not.

At the heart of this is the reality that Mr. Duffy continues to believe he did absolutely nothing wrong in collecting expenses he never actually should have collected, and absolutely nothing wrong in telling the Canadian public he repaid them when he did not repay them. That is why Mr. Duffy faces the sanctions he faces today.