Brassard presses the government on conflicts of interest and accountability: as ethics committee chair he seeks the Prime Minister’s divestment of Brookfield holdings, presses to return a CRA security contract to the Commissionaires, the country’s largest employer of veterans, and opposes the part of Bill C-39 that would let ministers override collective bargaining. He argues through colourful analogies and pointed rhetorical questions—“How much do the Prime Minister and Brookfield stand to make off the backs of taxpayers?”—often quoting pop culture, from Star Wars to The Sopranos, to frame his case.Written by AI from their statements. Updated .
Average grade
B+
The average grade of 56 analysed statements. 7 more were analysed but were too short to grade.
82 / 100 over 56 statements
Signal78 / 100
Relevance74 / 100
Respect100 / 100
Clarity89 / 100
Loses points more than most for A story that illustrates instead of making a point.1.8 times as often as most members.What the tags mean →×1.8
Averaged over the 56 of 63 statements graded so far.
“The Liberals are stopping the opposition from holding the government accountable. I want the media to check government spending and contracts. I am proposing a change to this motion to set the number of MPs from each party on the Public Accounts committee.”
“Mr. Speaker, I will withdraw that. The message to the media is, “Do your jobs. Hold the government to account for everything that is going on with respect to spending, contracts and all that stuff.” Canadians are going to need to rely on the media to do this. The Liberal government is handcuffing the opposition party right now, particularly on oversight committees. With this motion and with everything else that we have seen, the sad reality is that Liberals expect Canadians to give up, get complacent and go away, so that the Prime Minister can have total power without any accountability. That will not happen. Our country and its people are worth fighting for. We will continue to fight for people to afford homes, fuel and food. We will continue to fight for safety on our streets. We will continue to fight for our resource workers and our soldiers. Conservatives will continue to lead that fight, every day and in every way, in Parliament, across the country and into the next election when Canadians will reclaim this country we know and love, and put the power back to the people and not the government. With that, I would like to close with an amendment to Government Motion No. 9. I move: That the motion be amended, in paragraph (b), (a) by adding, after the words “and Estimates”, the word “and”; and (b) by adding, after the words “Public Accounts”, the following: “which shall consist of nine members and be composed of four members from the Liberal Party, four members from the Conservative Party and one member from the Bloc Québécois.””
Mr. Speaker, I will withdraw that. The message to the media is, “Do your jobs. Hold the government to account for everything that is going on with respect to spending, contracts and all that stuff.” Canadians are going to need to rely on the media to do this. The Liberal government is handcuffing the opposition party right now, particularly on oversight committees. With this motion and with everything else that we have seen, the sad reality is that Liberals expect Canadians to give up, get complacent and go away, so that the Prime Minister can have total power without any accountability. That will not happen. Our country and its people are worth fighting for. We will continue to fight for people to afford homes, fuel and food. We will continue to fight for safety on our streets. We will continue to fight for our resource workers and our soldiers. Conservatives will continue to lead that fight, every day and in every way, in Parliament, across the country and into the next election when Canadians will reclaim this country we know and love, and put the power back to the people and not the government. With that, I would like to close with an amendment to Government Motion No. 9. I move: That the motion be amended, in paragraph (b), (a) by adding, after the words “and Estimates”, the word “and”; and (b) by adding, after the words “Public Accounts”, the following: “which shall consist of nine members and be composed of four members from the Liberal Party, four members from the Conservative Party and one member from the Bloc Québécois.”
“I oppose this motion. It gives the Liberals too much control over committees. That will stop the opposition from investigating government scandals and holding the government accountable.”
“Mr. Speaker, if Canadians wanted any evidence at all that what the Liberal government wants is an audience and not an effective opposition, Motion No. 9 reflects that accurately and precisely. It was just under a year ago that the Prime Minister of this country was elected by Canadians. It was a fair election, but the Prime Minister was elected in a minority situation. He received fewer votes than what he needed for a majority. Canadians sent that message, as they did in previous elections, because they were not happy with the Liberal government and what it was doing to this country. Canadians elected the government in a minority situation because we had an untested, unproven Prime Minister who had never engaged in politics before. Canadians voted for a minority government. What that meant, as is the convention around this place in relation to the Standing Orders, is that we had committees that were negotiated at that time that were structured in a way that reflected the results of the election. It meant that for Conservatives and members of the Bloc, we had the majority of members on those committees. For the committees that were not oversight committees, that meant that if the opposition members wanted to determine what a study was going to be, wanted to compel witnesses, wanted to summons or wanted to compel documents, they could do it without it having to get to the chair. That is the way committees were formed. The same can be said about the oversight committees. I am the chair of the ethics committee. The oversight committees exist because they deal with issues of importance related to government operations, government contracts, ethics, accountability and transparency. If it was not for the oversight committees in previous parliaments, as the member for Regina—Qu’Appelle said, none of the scandals that became big scandals, one which caused Parliament to be prorogued in the case of the Winnipeg lab scandal, would have come out if not for the oversight committees. The purpose the oversight committees serve is to hold the government to account, to ensure there is transparency and to ensure that the information is available to us, especially when a minority government is elected. We run a real risk. I have a grave concern that the level of accountability and transparency is not going to be there with Liberal members on these oversight committees, controlling these committees. When those committees were constituted, there were good-faith negotiations. The proportionality of what has happened now in this transactional nature of a majority government, where we have seen floor crossers give the government a majority, means they have just over 50% of the seats right now, which, again, should be reflective on those committees. What the Liberals are proposing with Motion No. 9 is to in fact give themselves 58% of representation on those committees, which would ensure that nothing the opposition wanted to do at those committees would actually happen. There would be no summoning of documents. There would be no appearances by witnesses. There would be no studies on things that happen as a result of scandals within the government that would ever see the light of day. That is what is most troubling to me. The other thing that has been troubling, and I have seen a pattern of this over the 10‑plus years I have been here, speaks to the importance of what is needed in this country. If we do not have any accountability and do not have the type of transparency that Parliament is going to be able to provide at this point, especially given the work the committees are charged with, it seems like we have turned into a country where we are the only country in liberalized democracies around the world where the opposition party is held to a greater account than the government by media. That needs to stop right now, because the power that is given to this Parliament, the power that is given to MPs, the supreme power that is given, is being taken away by the Liberal government through Motion No. 9. It is a sad indictment on where we are with respect to oversight, accountability and transparency, when there are YouTubers who are finding out more about what is happening within the Liberal government, the scandals and the connections of well-connected insiders, lobbyists and family members. When YouTubers are researching this stuff and finding this stuff out, that is a sad indictment on where we are with respect to media accountability in this country and holding the opposition to greater account than the government party. With all that is happening with Motion No. 9, I want to send a message, because it is going to become increasingly important for the media if this passes without amendment on the oversight committees: “Do your goddamn jobs.” Some hon. members: Oh, oh!”
Mr. Speaker, if Canadians wanted any evidence at all that what the Liberal government wants is an audience and not an effective opposition, Motion No. 9 reflects that accurately and precisely. It was just under a year ago that the Prime Minister of this country was elected by Canadians. It was a fair election, but the Prime Minister was elected in a minority situation. He received fewer votes than what he needed for a majority. Canadians sent that message, as they did in previous elections, because they were not happy with the Liberal government and what it was doing to this country. Canadians elected the government in a minority situation because we had an untested, unproven Prime Minister who had never engaged in politics before. Canadians voted for a minority government. What that meant, as is the convention around this place in relation to the Standing Orders, is that we had committees that were negotiated at that time that were structured in a way that reflected the results of the election. It meant that for Conservatives and members of the Bloc, we had the majority of members on those committees. For the committees that were not oversight committees, that meant that if the opposition members wanted to determine what a study was going to be, wanted to compel witnesses, wanted to summons or wanted to compel documents, they could do it without it having to get to the chair. That is the way committees were formed. The same can be said about the oversight committees. I am the chair of the ethics committee. The oversight committees exist because they deal with issues of importance related to government operations, government contracts, ethics, accountability and transparency. If it was not for the oversight committees in previous parliaments, as the member for Regina—Qu’Appelle said, none of the scandals that became big scandals, one which caused Parliament to be prorogued in the case of the Winnipeg lab scandal, would have come out if not for the oversight committees. The purpose the oversight committees serve is to hold the government to account, to ensure there is transparency and to ensure that the information is available to us, especially when a minority government is elected. We run a real risk. I have a grave concern that the level of accountability and transparency is not going to be there with Liberal members on these oversight committees, controlling these committees. When those committees were constituted, there were good-faith negotiations. The proportionality of what has happened now in this transactional nature of a majority government, where we have seen floor crossers give the government a majority, means they have just over 50% of the seats right now, which, again, should be reflective on those committees. What the Liberals are proposing with Motion No. 9 is to in fact give themselves 58% of representation on those committees, which would ensure that nothing the opposition wanted to do at those committees would actually happen. There would be no summoning of documents. There would be no appearances by witnesses. There would be no studies on things that happen as a result of scandals within the government that would ever see the light of day. That is what is most troubling to me. The other thing that has been troubling, and I have seen a pattern of this over the 10‑plus years I have been here, speaks to the importance of what is needed in this country. If we do not have any accountability and do not have the type of transparency that Parliament is going to be able to provide at this point, especially given the work the committees are charged with, it seems like we have turned into a country where we are the only country in liberalized democracies around the world where the opposition party is held to a greater account than the government by media. That needs to stop right now, because the power that is given to this Parliament, the power that is given to MPs, the supreme power that is given, is being taken away by the Liberal government through Motion No. 9. It is a sad indictment on where we are with respect to oversight, accountability and transparency, when there are YouTubers who are finding out more about what is happening within the Liberal government, the scandals and the connections of well-connected insiders, lobbyists and family members. When YouTubers are researching this stuff and finding this stuff out, that is a sad indictment on where we are with respect to media accountability in this country and holding the opposition to greater account than the government party. With all that is happening with Motion No. 9, I want to send a message, because it is going to become increasingly important for the media if this passes without amendment on the oversight committees: “Do your goddamn jobs.” Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
“I want to know if the government will respect a vote by the opposition parties. If an opposition motion passes, will the minister agree to accept it and not treat it as a vote of confidence?”
“Mr. Speaker, in the words of that great country music singer, George Strait, “I’ve got some ocean front property in Arizona” to sell. That was quite the speech. The minister mentioned that if it were the will of the opposition parties, if for some reason the majority the Liberals have cobbled together with floor crossers were to decline into a minority situation, if the opposition parties did decide to use an opposition motion and the motion did pass, would the minister respect that decision and not call it a matter of confidence if and when that scenario were to happen? That is a fair question to ask him.”
Mr. Speaker, in the words of that great country music singer, George Strait, “I’ve got some ocean front property in Arizona” to sell. That was quite the speech. The minister mentioned that if it were the will of the opposition parties, if for some reason the majority the Liberals have cobbled together with floor crossers were to decline into a minority situation, if the opposition parties did decide to use an opposition motion and the motion did pass, would the minister respect that decision and not call it a matter of confidence if and when that scenario were to happen? That is a fair question to ask him.
