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Public Services and Procurement

During oral questions on public services and procurement, the Conservatives asked about federal funding for Telesat and the closeness of the personal relationship between the Prime Minister, the minister responsible, and the company’s CEO, arguing the Prime Minister should have stepped back from decisions involving the company the way the minister did, and asking why the government was directing money to the company given that relationship. The Liberals replied that Canada has strong ethics rules and that members follow them every day, and characterized the opposition’s questions as overwrought. The exchange stayed on this back-and-forth about ethics rules and the Telesat funding.Written by AI from the debate. Updated .

Official text

4 statements

Warren Steinley

Conservative
“The Prime Minister, the industry minister, and the Telesat CEO are close personal friends. The minister removed himself from decisions about Telesat to avoid a conflict of interest. Why did the Prime Minister not do the same?”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, let us try this again. There is no doubt that the AI minister, the Prime Minister and the Telesat CEO are good friends. They hang out together. They are in running clubs and book clubs. Their kids all go to the same rich private school, so there is a close relationship. Why did the AI minister put Dan Goldberg of Telesat on his ethics screen but the Prime Minister did not?

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Mike Kelloway

Liberal
“Canada leads the way on ethics rules. All members of Parliament follow them every day, and we will keep doing that.”

  • Government answer in Question Period

    Relevance 47 of 100

    None of this answer addressed the specific question that was asked.

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Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, what I will say is that when we look at Canada in terms of ethics and when we look at all the other rules and regulations as they pertain to ethics, Canada leads the way. As members of Parliament, all of us here follow them every single day, and we will continue to do so.

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Warren Steinley

Conservative
“The Prime Minister is giving $2.3 billion to Telesat and to a close personal friend. Why does he think he is above the law?”

  • Opposition question in Question Period

    Signal 31 of 100

    Much of this statement went to praise, blame, greetings, routine procedure or general stories rather than reasons, requests or specific points.

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Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, after being here for a few years, I thought Justin Trudeau was going to have the most corrupt government ever in the history of the country, but the Prime Minister said, “Hold my beer. Watch this.” He is giving $2.3 billion to Telesat and to a close personal friend. We all know the Prime Minister thinks he is better than the average Canadian, but why does the Prime Minister think he is above the law?

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Mike Kelloway

Liberal
“The opposition's questions are ridiculous. Canada has the strictest ethics rules in the world, and our government follows them every single day.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, we are about 15 minutes into question period and they have already jumped the shark three times. It is amazing. Our country, again, has the most focused, stringent ethical rules of any nation in the world. We are focused on them every single day. The Prime Minister spoke about this on several occasions today, and the answer is that we follow the rules every single day. Why? It is the right thing for this country. An hon. member: Oh, oh!

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