WATCH: Liberal MPs laugh at TPM report on MasterCard lobbyist’s ties to Liberals

Rachael Harder, who is the Member of Parliament for Lethbridge, asked this during Question Period: “The current government recently gave MasterCard almost $50 million dollars–bear in mind this is taxpayer dollars–now as if this wasn’t enough, the story continues.”

“We recently found out, thanks to The Post Millennial [Liberal Laughter] that actually it was a former chief of staff within the Liberal party who is now functioning as the chief lobbyist for MasterCard who received this money. Now she also happens to be a maximum donor to the Liberal Party of Canada: coincidence? I think not. Why is it that Liberals always seem to get paid and Canadians always have to foot the bill?” Harder added.

Liberal MP William Amos responded without answering the question.

“It’s obvious that this is an investment in Canadian’s data protection and Canadian jobs–the government is investing in a new world class cyber security centre in Vancouver averaging $100 million in private sector investment–its going to create hundreds of new jobs, and protect Canadians from cyber attacks in an increasingly digital world. That’s what Canadians are asking us to do and that’s what we’re going to do,” said Amos.

When the question was being asked, there were audible laughs from the Liberal Party members of Parliment. The Conservatives, on the other hand, were not particularly amused by MasterCard’s $49 million gift.

Tracy Gray, who is the Conservative Member of Parliment for Kelowna—Lake Country, asked the Liberal Party spokesperson why do “Canadians get their credit card bills in the mail, MasterCard gets a cheque for $50 million from taxpayers thanks to the Liberals?”

“This is a multi-national, hugely profitable company. Today The Post Millennial reported [more Liberal laughter] that coincidently MasterCard’s chief lobbyist is a former Liberal aide who donated thousands of dollars to the Liberal Party. When will this government stop this wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars?”

These questions come after The Post Millennial discovered that MasterCard’s most senior lobbyist, Jennifer M. Sloan, was a former top Liberal aide during Chretien’s government. She also appears to have donated to the Liberal Party of Canada 19 times, the most recent being $1,500 in 2016.

The other eighteen donations totalled $11,675.