Evidence of meeting #8 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was money.
A recording is available from Parliament.
1 p.m.
NDP
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
That worries me very, very much, perhaps more than anything else I've heard today.
1 p.m.
As an Individual
It's not me, not me. It's RCMP. What are you talking about?
1 p.m.
NDP
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
If it wasn't you or your lawyer. That's a very deep concern to me.
I have another brief question. Mr. Mulroney is probably going to say, when he comes here on Thursday, that taking that money from you was the biggest mistake he ever made in his life. He's already said that.
1 p.m.
As an Individual
The problem is, he tells me he doesn't owe me any money. And I want to know, okay, if you don't owe me any money, then you must have either done something for me, or you have the understanding that I owe you money. And I would like to ask him, “Do you get the idea, since I did not send money to your lawyer in Geneva on the request of Fred Doucet, that I owe you that money, which I did not send on your request to the lawyer?”
Oh, I have a lot of questions for him when it comes to the lawsuit.
1 p.m.
NDP
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
Yes, and that's the nature of the lawsuit.
Now, your good friend Elmer MacKay did a lot for you over the years while he was--
1 p.m.
NDP
1 p.m.
As an Individual
He tried to do the best for the people in Nova Scotia, which he was supposed to do, and what he promised to the Thyssen people. And it went so far that we celebrated already.
1 p.m.
NDP
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
I do.
Mr. Schreiber, perhaps the most valuable thing you have shared with us here today, and something that I appreciate very much, is you've done the Canadian public a great service by one comment you made: that it could be, and it is likely, that exactly the same kind of influence peddling, big money, corporate lobbying that you were doing is going on today, as we speak, by guys like Fred Doucet running roughshod over everything that's good and decent about Canadian business and Canadian government. That is a revelation I think Canadians should take note of.
1 p.m.
As an Individual
Sir, you have only to look at the ministries. Where are the budgets? Transport and defence are the main.... Now, look at the Minto deal, look at the deal in Nova Scotia going to--
1 p.m.
As an Individual
Look at the submarines, nine procurement.... And Peter MacKay was moved from foreign affairs to defence. I could think perhaps he went there or was moved there because foreign affairs has no budget.
Then comes the question: who governs Canada? Maybe the Prime Minister doesn't even know. Could be. He is so isolated, perhaps, around the group from Mulroney. What can I do?
1 p.m.
NDP
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
It's also interesting to note that the Conservative government has never implemented the regulations to tie a bell around lobbyists' necks that we passed in the Federal Accountability Act just one year ago. The anniversary is Wednesday, I believe. They've never implemented those changes to try to change the way lobbying is done in this country.
The difference between lobbying and influence peddling, they say, is about five years in prison. Do you believe that the type of lobbying undergone or taken up by the Fred Doucets of the world more accurately should be described as influence peddling?
1 p.m.
As an Individual
It is. It is influence peddling in every way, because when you go.... I don't want to be mean to you. If you were in your constituency looking for some donations for your party because an election was on, you wouldn't go to an old folks home or mental clinics, you would go to people with money, right?
This was the problem for Mr. Strauss. We had elections going constantly, and he had to beg. Now, this is—