On Parliament Hill

Canadians deserve an ethical government.

Back in August, Justin Trudeau shut down Parliament to stop the multiple investigations into his unethical behaviour in the WE Scandal.

He was hoping Canadians would forget about the nearly $1 billion dollars he gave to an organization that paid members of the Trudeau family upwards of half a million dollars.

Justin Trudeau shut down Parliament during a national crisis. On the day he shut down Parliament, Justin Trudeau released documents to the Finance Committee that were heavily blacked out. He also prevented the release of documents to the Ethics Committee that would have revealed how much money he and his family had been paid by the WE organization.

Now he is at it again, trying to paralyze committees, even going so far as to threaten a snap election, all to prevent Canadians from getting to the truth.

I was appalled, last week, when Liberal members on the Finance and Ethics committees filibustered – a tactic used to prevent a measure from being brought to a vote by means of obstruction and extending debate on the measure – to prevent the committee from receiving vital evidence.

Liberal MPs will continue filibustering at committee, doing the Prime Minister’s dirty work. Doing everything in their power to stop Opposition MPs and, by extension, Canadians from seeing these documents.

Why go through all this effort if there is nothing to hide?

To that end, Conservatives have introduced a motion to create a new special committee so we can get the answers Canadians deserve.

Some have asked why Conservatives are spending time on the WE scandal during COVID-19?

Conservatives are absolutely focused on helping Canadians through these difficult times.

By establishing this special committee, all other committees – particularly Finance – would be able to focus on their own mandated work, helping the millions of Canadians who have been left behind by Justin Trudeau. Not least among these mandated tasks is helping to prepare a budget – this is the longest time frame in our history where the government has operated without a budget.

Other committees who come across questionable spending could refer that spending to the new committee so they can focus on the more immediate needs of Canadians.

There is also the issue of trust.

Justin Trudeau has broken trust with Canadians again and again.

He has been found guilty of violating ethics laws, again and again.

At a time when more Canadians are relying on the government than ever before, Canadians need to know they can trust their government.

Canadians deserve answers.

They deserve to know if the Prime Minister is using COVID-19 to line the pockets of his friends and family.

Canadians deserve to know what else Justin Trudeau is hiding from them.

We will continue to press for those vital answers.

Under the leadership of Erin O’Toole, Conservatives will continue to hold the Trudeau government to account and bring good, ethical government back to Canada.