section_path: Early political career (2004–2022)/Parliamentary secretary (2006–2013)
section_name: Parliamentary secretary (2006–2013)
paragraph_text: Parliamentary secretary (2006–2013)
  
  Poilievre won re-election with over 50% of the vote in the 2006 federal election, by which the Conservative party formed a minority government. Entering the 39th Canadian Parliament at the age of 26, he remained the youngest MP in the House of Commons. Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed Poilievre to act as Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board, who was his fellow Nepean-area Conservative MP John Baird. Poilievre's parliamentary work included overseeing the drafting and adoption of the Federal Accountability Act.
  
  Addressing the prime minister's apology on behalf of the Canadian government for the Indian residential school system and planned reparations, Poilievre stated he did not think Canada was "getting value for all this money", instead suggesting "we need to engender the values of hard work and independence and self-reliance." Poilievre apologized in Parliament the next day, saying, "Mr. Speaker, I rise today to offer a full apology to aboriginal people, to the House and to all Canadians. Yesterday, on a day when the House and all Canadians were celebrating a new beginning, I made remarks that were hurtful and wrong. I accept responsibility for them, and I apologize."
  
  In the 2008 federal election, Poilievre, then a Barrhaven resident, was again re-elected with over 50% of the vote in his Nepean–Carleton riding with his party forming another minority government. For the 40th Canadian Parliament, Prime Minister Harper appointed Poilievre as parliamentary secretary to the prime minister. After Harper decided Canada would boycott the Durban Review Conference due to concerns of anti-Semitism, Poilievre and Liberal Party MP Irwin Cotler were sent to Geneva, Switzerland, to attend the alternative Conference Against Racism, Discrimination, and Persecution. Poilievre went on to Poland for the March of the Living. He was assigned to be a member of the Special Panel on Employment Insurance, tasked by Harper and Liberal Party leader Michael Ignatieff to find an interparty compromise to address the 2008 financial crisis. He was also assigned to the Information, Privacy and Ethics Committee where he expressed concern over camera surveillance, like Google Street View, and called for CEO of Google Eric Schmidt to testify.
  
  Poilievre became known as the Conservative Party's "attack dog". Following the 2009 Liberal Party leadership election, he sent a letter to the Commissioner of Canada Elections alleging contraventions of federal fundraising regulations. In 2010, a police probe was triggered after Poilievre drove through a Parliament Hill screening gate without being permitted entry by the RCMP. Instead, he pressed the entrance button himself and drove his vehicle through. After Poilievre was identified as the driver and the incident was reported on in the media, he apologized. As in 2006 and 2008, in 2011 Poilievre won re-election in Nepean–Carleton with over 50% of the vote. For this 41st Canadian Parliament, the Conservative Party formed a majority government, and Prime Minister Harper appointed Poilievre as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities (Denis Lebel) and for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) — assisting Gary Goodyear and Steven Fletcher.
  
  In early September 2012, while serving on the FedDev Ontario, Poilievre echoed then-Ontario MPP Randy Hillier 's calls for ending workers' mandatory union payments. When asked in 2012 if his advocacy was akin to right-to-work laws implemented in parts of the United States, Poilievre described it as an "enhancement of workers rights and freedoms". In early 2013, both Poilievre, at the federal level, and Hillier, at the provincial level, called for greater transparency regarding union finances, citing the way in which the National Capital Region branch of the Public Service Alliance of Canada supported the Parti Québécois in the 2012 provincial elections, and how unions had supported student protests using union funds. Poilievre wrote forcefully against the 1946 Rand formula used in Canadian labour law, which stems from a Supreme Court ruling that allows unions to collect mandatory dues from workers they represent. Union supporters believed deprivation of mandatory dues would weaken unions.
  
  Russ Hiebert 's private member's bill, C-377, An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act (labour organizations), was passed into law in June 2015, making union fees optional. One of the last pieces of legislation passed under Harper's premiership, the measure was repealed by the 42nd Canadian Parliament in June 2017, with its provisions having never come into effect.
  
  Poilievre won re-election with over 50% of the vote in the 2006 federal election, by which the Conservative party formed a minority government. Entering the 39th Canadian Parliament at the age of 26, he remained the youngest MP in the House of Commons. Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed Poilievre to act as Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board, who was his fellow Nepean-area Conservative MP John Baird. Poilievre's parliamentary work included overseeing the drafting and adoption of the Federal Accountability Act.
  
  Addressing the prime minister's apology on behalf of the Canadian government for the Indian residential school system and planned reparations, Poilievre stated he did not think Canada was "getting value for all this money", instead suggesting "we need to engender the values of hard work and independence and self-reliance." Poilievre apologized in Parliament the next day, saying, "Mr. Speaker, I rise today to offer a full apology to aboriginal people, to the House and to all Canadians. Yesterday, on a day when the House and all Canadians were celebrating a new beginning, I made remarks that were hurtful and wrong. I accept responsibility for them, and I apologize."
  
  In the 2008 federal election, Poilievre, then a Barrhaven resident, was again re-elected with over 50% of the vote in his Nepean–Carleton riding with his party forming another minority government. For the 40th Canadian Parliament, Prime Minister Harper appointed Poilievre as parliamentary secretary to the prime minister. After Harper decided Canada would boycott the Durban Review Conference due to concerns of anti-Semitism, Poilievre and Liberal Party MP Irwin Cotler were sent to Geneva, Switzerland, to attend the alternative Conference Against Racism, Discrimination, and Persecution. Poilievre went on to Poland for the March of the Living. He was assigned to be a member of the Special Panel on Employment Insurance, tasked by Harper and Liberal Party leader Michael Ignatieff to find an interparty compromise to address the 2008 financial crisis. He was also assigned to the Information, Privacy and Ethics Committee where he expressed concern over camera surveillance, like Google Street View, and called for CEO of Google Eric Schmidt to testify.
  
  Poilievre became known as the Conservative Party's "attack dog". Following the 2009 Liberal Party leadership election, he sent a letter to the Commissioner of Canada Elections alleging contraventions of federal fundraising regulations. In 2010, a police probe was triggered after Poilievre drove through a Parliament Hill screening gate without being permitted entry by the RCMP. Instead, he pressed the entrance button himself and drove his vehicle through. After Poilievre was identified as the driver and the incident was reported on in the media, he apologized. As in 2006 and 2008, in 2011 Poilievre won re-election in Nepean–Carleton with over 50% of the vote. For this 41st Canadian Parliament, the Conservative Party formed a majority government, and Prime Minister Harper appointed Poilievre as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities (Denis Lebel) and for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) — assisting Gary Goodyear and Steven Fletcher.
  
  In early September 2012, while serving on the FedDev Ontario, Poilievre echoed then-Ontario MPP Randy Hillier 's calls for ending workers' mandatory union payments. When asked in 2012 if his advocacy was akin to right-to-work laws implemented in parts of the United States, Poilievre described it as an "enhancement of workers rights and freedoms". In early 2013, both Poilievre, at the federal level, and Hillier, at the provincial level, called for greater transparency regarding union finances, citing the way in which the National Capital Region branch of the Public Service Alliance of Canada supported the Parti Québécois in the 2012 provincial elections, and how unions had supported student protests using union funds. Poilievre wrote forcefully against the 1946 Rand formula used in Canadian labour law, which stems from a Supreme Court ruling that allows unions to collect mandatory dues from workers they represent. Union supporters believed deprivation of mandatory dues would weaken unions.
  
  Russ Hiebert 's private member's bill, C-377, An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act (labour organizations), was passed into law in June 2015, making union fees optional. One of the last pieces of legislation passed under Harper's premiership, the measure was repealed by the 42nd Canadian Parliament in June 2017, with its provisions having never come into effect.