It’s a pleasure to rise today on behalf of the official opposition to share our deepest condolences on the passing of the Right Honourable Brian Mulroney, Canada’s 18th Prime Minister.

I want to start by offering, of course, our most sincere sympathies to the family of Prime Minister Mulroney: his wife Mila; our colleague the President of the Treasury Board and the member for York–Simcoe; Ben, Mark and Nicolas; and all of his grandchildren, family, friends and loved ones as they find themselves in the midst of such a huge loss. I want you to know that as you find yourselves navigating through this new grief, a nation is grieving right alongside you.

Brian Mulroney’s commitment to Canada and its people cannot be understated. He’s left a legacy that will be remembered and recounted for generations to follow. I want to reflect for a moment on what that legacy means as we face, in this moment, the very real and looming threat of climate change. Every day we are breaking new records—and not the good kind—but climate change denialism persists as a major challenge.

Decades ago, when climate activism wasn’t as loud or as visible, Brian Mulroney campaigned for the planet. Under his leadership, Canada broke ground on a number of environmental policies. It was Prime Minister Mulroney who led the signing of the acid rain treaty with the United States. It was a unique first step in managing cross-border pollution. As well, there was the Montreal Protocol, an international treaty to ban CFCs that were burning a hole in the ozone layer. That’s still one of the most successful international environmental treaties.

I could go on listing his environmental accomplishments: the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, the Environmental Protection Act, ratifying the Convention on Biological Diversity, recognizing conservation of biodiversity as a common concern of humankind—under Prime Minister Mulroney’s leadership Canada was the first industrialized country to do so. His government released the Green Plan, with millions in funds and policies to bring carbon emissions under control. For Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, the environment and the Earth’s well-being was not a partisan issue. He understood the importance of coming together to save the planet that we all share and his actions on this matter reflected that.

Many will also remember that under Prime Minister Mulroney’s watch Canada was one of the first countries that Nelson Mandela visited upon his release from prison after nearly 27 years. We don’t have to tell anybody in this room, probably, but Prime Minister Mulroney repeatedly called for the release of Nelson Mandela and he took on Margaret Thatcher to impose sanctions on the apartheid regime. Back when I was a young thing, that was an issue that I cared very deeply about. And while there’s no question that, certainly, the fight for liberation in South Africa was won by South Africans, by people organizing and resisting, sanctions were an absolutely critical factor in applying international pressure to the apartheid state.

Personally, I saw another side to that role that Canada played, because Canada also used, under Prime Minister Mulroney, our international development heft to support the front-line states in their resistance against apartheid as well.

My family’s life changed under Prime Minister Mulroney’s policies. We were living in Newfoundland, and my father got a contract doing work for CIDA in international development in southern Africa, working with the SADC states. At that time, there was enormous resistance to apartheid in South Africa. His project was to ensure industrial energy conservation was taking place in those front-line states. What was important about that was it allowed for those states to remain independent of the South African apartheid state. It was a critical thing. It was another way—and I think there were many of these tactics that were used by Canada in that moment—to use our policy and our money and our decisions to put pressure to end apartheid. It’s something that changed my life, and it changed my family’s life.

Mr. Mulroney’s legacy is folded into Canada’s story, and that’s quite a legacy to leave. He also leaves a more personal legacy for many of us in political life, as a mentor and as someone who was always willing to reach across party lines to give advice. He even left me a message or two, I will say.

I was reminded at Ed Broadbent’s memorial not very long ago—another great Canadian—of their friendship. A friend of mine was reminding me that at the inaugural Broadbent Institute gala a number of years back, Mr. Mulroney sent in a lovely little video, and it started out with him saying, “Hello, Brian Mulroney here. Bet you’re wondering what I’m doing at the Broadbent gala.” I know they had a very close friendship and respect for each other, and I think that was very important to Mr. Broadbent as well.

On the other side of someone’s passing, the loss feels so huge. It is huge, and it is sometimes insurmountable. This morning of tributes is our human attempt to fill the vacuum that can otherwise feel so overwhelming. As we remember a Prime Minister and a global leader, we are really remembering a person: a brother, a father, a husband and a valued community member.

So to Caroline, to Mr. Mulroney’s family, I can only hope there is some solace and smiles and warmth to be found in the very rich life that Brian Mulroney led. And I say this again: Those whose lives were touched by your father across this country and around the world are standing right beside you. I hope you’re all feeling our support that is there with you today.

This question is for the Premier. Recently, through a freedom of information request, the NDP has obtained nearly 4,000 pages of records from the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing that discussed the Premier’s infamous greenbelt grab. The documents include emails that were forwarded to Ryan Amato, the former chief of staff to the former Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. One thing that kept coming up in these documents is several uses of the phrase G-asterisk or G-star.

So my question to the Premier is, does the Premier have any idea what that means or why it would be used in internal communications with Mr. Amato and the minister’s office?

So my question back to the Premier: Was anyone directed to avoid or conceal references to the greenbelt in their written communications so they could avoid being captured in a freedom-of-information request?

So I’m going back to the Premier again, hoping for an answer: Did anyone in the Premier’s office direct others to avoid email or use code words when discussing the special project of carving up the greenbelt, and when is the Premier going to be disclosing this to the RCMP?

Interjections.

Speaker, back to the Premier: The reason this is important is because it is part of a growing mountain of evidence that the government has deliberately tried to cover up the details of its $8-billion greenbelt grab. Last year, the Auditor General uncovered evidence that government officials had inappropriately used personal email accounts and devices when discussing the greenbelt grab. Today’s FOI shows more of the same between Mr. Amato and Mr. Sackville in the Premier’s office.

Back to the Premier again: Is it standard operating procedure to have staff use personal devices and accounts when discussing the “special project” known internally as “G*”?

Speaker, the stench of this scandal has seeped into everything this government touches. That’s the truth.

The Information and Privacy Commissioner has already warned the government, I’ll remind them, about deleting emails and concealing information through the use of personal emails and personal devices after we uncovered that government officials were already doing that.

Deleting emails related to this massive government policy, using personal accounts or not, is in contravention of the law. When the Liberals did that, someone went to jail.

So back to the Premier: Why did your staff delete emails related to the greenbelt grab?

We know it wasn’t just emails. The Premier has admitted to using his personal phone for government business. He says it all the time, every day, and yet he refuses to share his phone records. Why? What is he hiding?

Brown envelopes, coded messages, burner phones, Speaker—at every turn, it looks like the Premier’s office took deliberate steps to cover their tracks. We’re going to get to the bottom of it. We sure will, or the RCMP will, because this government is under criminal investigation. But they could come clean right now, and they might help themselves.

Speaker, I want to ask the Premier again: When will he finally own up to his role in this scheme, or do we have to wait for the RCMP?

Interjections.