English transcript

an update on a few things. First of all, at the Standing Committee on Access to Information,

Privacy and Ethics, we are facing a filibuster that's gone on for more than 12 hours, a liberal

filibuster designed to block basic accountability on the matter of the Finance Minister's conflict

of interest in the $90 billion Alto high-speed rail project. In the fall, Minister Champagne

wrote a letter to the Prime Minister saying that should he be involved in discussions,

decisions, debates or votes on Alto, that he would find himself in a conflict of interest

because his partner serves as a Vice President at that Crown corporation. What we saw that

followed was the Minister participate in discussions, debates and most likely decisions,

as there are no recusals published on the Ethics Commissioner's website, as well as

specifically on an amendment to ensure that the High-Speed Rail Network Act was included

in the Budget Implementation Act, the Finance Minister's own bill.

He did the very thing that he said he shouldn't do because it would place him in a conflict

of interest. No recusal, no conflict of interest screen being brought to bear.

It's almost exclusively been filibusters akin to reading the phone book into the record

by Liberals. This is the opposite of what the Prime Minister said that Canadians should expect

from parliamentarians at committee. It is counter to the basic accountability that Canadians

should demand of all parliamentarians. That's what we're looking to bring to bear,

accountability in a major infrastructure project, the largest one in Canadian history.