Fair Elections Act  Mr. Speaker, the Chief Electoral Officer is not the referee but the scorekeeper. The referee is the commissioner. Let us make sure that we get the game straight: the scorekeeper should not be interceding in these affairs. Yes, I do feel like I was bullied and intimidated. On pag

Fair Elections Act  Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to be able to stand and address the House today on the fair elections act. I want to inform the House that there are a lot of great things in the fair elections act. All of us have been talking about the need to crack down on rogue callers, imperso

Manitoba's Olympic Athletes  Mr. Speaker, the opening ceremonies have just started in Sochi, and I want to acknowledge some remarkable Manitobans who will be going for gold in these 22nd Winter Olympic Games. Megan Imrie of Falcon Lake will complete in the biathlon event. Brittany Schussler will give it her

Questions on the Order Paper  Mr. Speaker, I ask that all question be allowed to stand.

Grain Transport  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture for his comments. I also want to thank the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food for the work he has done on this file. There is no question that we have some major challenges. In my riding

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for her presentation. I also want to thank her for the work she does on the Standing Committee on National Defence. I would like her to talk a bit about the importance of CSEC from the standpoint of national security. A couple of years a

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I am a little concerned that by having this debate on CSEC and CSIS, we are increasing the level of concern among Canadians. We have to remind members that the Communications Security Establishment Canada targets all of its activities for the protection of Canada.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, the member refers to a former committee that involved some members from this side of the House going back to 2004. At that time, the Liberal Party was in power and it ignored that recommendation. Now Liberals are claiming that they are on the side of openness and tra

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I want to make an observation. The member asks why the government would not do this. The Liberal party was in government when it authorized the collection and analysis of metadata through a ministerial directive. It was the Liberals who did that. The member for Malpe

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I want again to remind everyone that we should not be fearmongering and getting Canadians worried that their privacy is at risk. Communications Security Establishment Canada, CSEC, only targets its activities on non-Canadians and abroad. It is trying to protect our b

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, the whole Liberal mantra that we are hearing today is based upon false allegations, speculation, and innuendo. That is no basis for forming the oversight committee the Liberal members are proposing. We heard right from the get go from the commissioner, who said that

Business of Supply  It is about protecting our forces, Canada, and protecting us from cyber-security attacks and terrorism. I just want the member to recognize that.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, with all due to respect to my colleague from Vancouver Quadra, to suggest that the independent commissioner of the Communications Security Establishment is not qualified or not capable of carrying out his mandate is insulting. That individual is a supernumerary justi

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my paranoid friend from St. John's East. I just want to correct some things that the member put on the record. The commissioner for CSEC just this weekend released the following statement: As Commissioner, I am independent of the government and of

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, as was noted , when the chiefs of CSEC and CSIS were before the standing committee yesterday, they answered all these allegations and provided assurances that CSEC was acting within its legal authority. I want to offer a quote. The CSEC commissioner, the Hon. Jean-