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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 176

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 30, 2023 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 176 - Mar/30/23
Hon. Pierre Poilievre (Leader of the Opposition, CPC)
  • Mar/30/23 2:35:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, for the Emergencies Act commission, the government named a Liberal staffer as the independent commissioner. For the foreign interference rapporteur, it named a member of the Trudeau Foundation and the Prime Minister's ski buddy. Now it needed someone to be an ethics commissioner, so it named a Liberal minister's sister-in-law to that position of independent Ethics Commissioner. This is the same minister who has already been found guilty of violating the law. When is the Liberal government going to run out of family and friends to name as independent officers?
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Context: House Hansard - 176 - Mar/30/23
Hon. Mark Holland (Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)
  • Mar/30/23 2:36:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the ski buddy that the hon. member refers to is David Johnston, an eminent Canadian whom Stephen Harper actually chose to be governor general of this country. He stood in his place and commended David Johnston as being a good and appropriate choice for governor general. To suggest that David Johnston does not have the best interests of Canada at heart as he looks at the issue of foreign interference is ridiculous. With respect to the position that he has just referred to, the interim Ethics Commissioner, again this is somebody who has been in that office for 10 years, who came in when Stephen Harper was in office and is second in command in that office.
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Context: House Hansard - 176 - Mar/30/23
Hon. Mark Holland (Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)
  • Mar/30/23 2:37:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, there is a place where comedy routines can be tried out; I would suggest that it is not on the floor of the House of Commons. What I will say about the conversations that have taken place in the Ethics Commissioner's office is that, for 10 years, the individual in question has absolutely made hard decisions on the government, as well as other parties, and she has comported herself with total professionalism. She was appointed as number two in charge in the Ethics Commissioner's office during Stephen Harper's time in office. What is not professional is to take somebody who has worked in the public service for 10 years making hard decisions, including hard decisions that affected the government, and treat them in that way.
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Context: House Hansard - 176 - Mar/30/23
Hon. Mark Holland (Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)
  • Mar/30/23 2:39:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Ethics Commissioner's role in our democracy is extremely important. Over the last 10 years in which the person they are referring to has been in the office, they have taken a lot of difficult positions against the government, and frankly, against that party. The person was appointed at the time of Stephen Harper, in the number two position. These decisions have been well-received in the sense that the Ethics Commissioner's job is to hold us to the highest possible standard. The idea that a public servant cannot do their job or set aside differences, when they have a screen in place, is not realistic.
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Context: House Hansard - 176 - Mar/30/23
Hon. Mark Holland (Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)
  • Mar/30/23 2:40:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the person in question was part of the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner when the decisions were made on the matter involving the Prime Minister and on other issues. Clearly, this person is capable of acting independently. She was appointed to the office during Prime Minister Harper's government and has been at that office for 10 years.
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