By Shaun Penner

Parliament Shutdown

“This is outrageous”: Warkentin blasts PM for call to prorogue parliament amid cabinet shuffle

Aug 18, 2020 | 2:31 PM

The Member of Parliament for Grande Prairie-Mackenzie is very unhappy with the Prime Minister calling for an end to the current parliamentary session amid changes to the federal cabinet, spurred by the resignation of Bill Morneau.

Chris Warkentin says Justin Trudeau asking Governor General Julie Payette to prorogue parliament and start fresh with in late September is “outrageous”.

“It’s really unprecedented when we see a government that’s embroiled in such scandal, and with the knowledge, of course, that there is a number of parties, including our own, that will not be voting confidence in the government,” said Warkentin.

“When we see a government that is in a minority situation, under scandal, and just using the mechanism to shut down parliament, its clearly a cover up.”

Morneau stepped down as federal finance minister on Monday evening amid growing speculation of a rift between him and Trudeau, who were both entangled in the WE charity scandal, following the decision to give a $900 million, sole-source contract to the charity to run a federal student aid program.

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Warkentin feels Morneau’s resignation was meant to distract from the scandal.

“Obviously, we have been calling for the finance minister’s resignation, but I think the Prime Minister wanted to fire the finance minister, simply to use him as a scape goat,” said Warkentin. “The Prime Minister has been under increasing pressure over the last number of weeks to come clean, to tell Canadians why was it that money was going to companies and organizations with close Liberal and family ties.”

Morneau’s successor is fellow Peace Country native and Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland, who will be turning over the Intergovernmental Affairs portfolio to New Brunswick MP Dominic LeBlanc.

Warkentin says he and his fellow Tories are “very familiar with” Freeland and are concerned that little will be done to properly address the scandal facing the Liberal government.

“She has worked hand in glove with that government and been part of every single decision that the finance minister and the Prime Minister have been engaged in, up until this point.

“I’m not sure we are going to see any divergence of policy or any divergence of willingness to be more open and transparent, then we saw with the finance minister, quite frankly.”

He adds that this may be the last straw, so to speak, when it comes to other opposition parties to vote confidence in the Liberal minority government, and that Trudeau may have felt proroguing parliament was the only way to avoid an election or a non-confidence vote.

Trudeau did say in his speech Tuesday that opposition parties will have the chance to vote on whether they have confidence in the minority Liberal government when he would delivers his throne speech on September 23, should parliament be prorogued.

“Now with the Bloc [Quebecois] having made it clear that unless the Prime Minister resigns, they will not be voting confidence in this Prime Minister. I think that the Prime Minister knows that his only dance partner left is the NDP.”

Warkentin says he is unsure whether the NDP would vote down Trudeau or call for an election.

“I guess we’ll see what happens.”