Juno News - October 17, 2020What are the Liberals trying to hide？
Episode Stats
Words per minute
141.87192
Summary
In 2020, in the wake of the WeWork scandal, Justin Trudeau's Liberal MPs have been anything but open and transparent. They have blocked access to documents related to the scandal, which is being investigated by the Standing Committee on Finance and Ethics in Parliament.
Transcript
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Democracy dies in the darkness is the motto and slogan that appears on the masthead of the
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Washington Post. I agree with the idea, if not always, their execution and carrying it out.
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In the early part of the last century, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandes,
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who served in the highest court in the land from 1916 to 1939, said,
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quote, sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants, electrically the most efficient
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policeman, unquote. In December of 2015, the newly minted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in his
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maiden speech to the House, quote, we are committed to delivering real change in the way that government
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works. It means setting a higher bar for openness and transparency, something needed if this House
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is to regain the confidence and trust of Canadians, unquote. Well, that was then. In 2020, in the
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aftermath of the Wee scandal, which is being investigated by the Standing Committees on
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Finance and Ethics in Parliament, his Liberal MPs have been anything but open and transparent.
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We have witnessed the better part of four days of various Liberals engaged in a filibuster
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to prevent opposition MPs from getting documents relating to the Wee scandal tabled in committee.
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Frankly, it's been embarrassing to watch the machinations of the collected Liberals that
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they have gone through to keep these documents from ever seeing the light of day. Why is the
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real question. We know the Wee organization paid the Prime Minister's mother more than a quarter
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of a million dollars for speaking at Wee events. We know that the Prime Minister's brother Alexandra,
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Sasha, has also received tens of thousands of dollars, ostensibly, for speaking at Wee events.
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And we know the Prime Minister's wife, Sophie, has appeared at multiple Wee events and accepted
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travel and hotel arrangements at the very least from Wee in the past few years. The Wee scandal and the
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Liberal filibuster of the opposition attempts to shed light on what really went on and how much money
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the Trudeau family has benefited from it have caused Pierre Poilev and his conservative colleagues joined
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by the NDP and the Bloc Québécois to call for an anti-corruption committee in Parliament. Stunning stuff.
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In a lead opinion column in the National Post, Chris Selle called liberal efforts, quote,
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a pathetic endless spectacle, unquote. To help understand how pathetic, conservative MP for Leeds
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Grenville, Michael Barrett, said on Twitter late Thursday, quote, the Liberals are blocking the
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release of documents. We are in our eighth hour. What are they trying to hide, unquote. That's the
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crux of all of this. There must be something for Canadians to see, or the Liberals would not be
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fighting hammer and tong to keep those requested documents secret. The more they appear to be covering
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up something, the more tenacious the opposition is going to be to get at it, and the more guilty the
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Liberals appear to be. It would seem the opposition smells blood in the water. When the committees
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reconvene next week, it will be interesting to see if the Liberals keep battling from the parapets,