Seven thousand dollars.
House of Commons Hansard #14 of the 36th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was liberal.
House of Commons Hansard #14 of the 36th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was liberal.
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Bloc
Jean-Guy Chrétien Bloc Frontenac—Mégantic, QC
Seven thousand dollars.
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Liberal
Guy St-Julien Liberal Abitibi, QC
No it is not, it is $7,939. It seems he cannot count. There are $939 missing from the Bloc Quebecois figures. That is not peanuts. It is a few trips to the grocery store for people in my riding. There are $939 missing. Get your math straight.
They think I was born yesterday. But tell me. What is the use of having pearly whites if your nose is dirty? Think about it, my friend.
Need we remind members that the Bloc Quebecois received a cash advance of $1.5 million from the Mouvement des caisses populaires Desjardins to launch its 1993 election campaign? The member for Témiscamingue talked about big banks and contributions, but he forgot to mention the caisses populaires in Quebec, $1,5 million from small investors for the Bloc Quebecois's election campaign in Quebec. That is what corporations contributed, that is what the caisses populaires contributed. They have two different discourses.
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Bloc
Benoît Sauvageau Bloc Repentigny, QC
Madam Speaker, just like some members were saying, you would have to tie him up to get him to tell the truth.
I would like to remind the hon. member that there is a difference between a contribution and a loan. I would appreciate it if the hon. members were honest in what he says in the House.
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Liberal
Guy St-Julien Liberal Abitibi, QC
Madam Speaker, to me a gift or a loan is the same thing and they know it.
We should not forget that the Quebec electoral legislation does not prevent financing activities where some people often pay in excess of a $1,000 to sit close to a minister or an MNA they wish to talk to. This is how Daniel Paillé, a former PQ minister, became rich. That way of doing things was also used in $2,000-a-plate dinners attended by the likes of Jacques Parizeau, Bernard Landry, Jean Campeau. These are back-door contributions, through attendance at fundraising dinners. The Bloc may very well idolize the Quebec legislation, it remains that it does not prevent minor and serious violations, like the ones committed by Marie Malavoy, a former PQ MNA who contributed to party coffers although she was prohibited from doing so by the legislation because she had not yet become a Canadian citizen.
If the Bloc wants to imply that business contributions could have an illegal impact on the allocation of government contracts, we could remind them that the Quebec legislation does not prevent the PQ from rewarding generously those who contribute to the party or serve its cause, and we could give several examples.
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Some hon. members
Give us some.
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Liberal
Guy St-Julien Liberal Abitibi, QC
I was hoping you would ask. All together, now.
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Bloc
Jean-Guy Chrétien Bloc Frontenac—Mégantic, QC
Michel Bastarache.
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Liberal
Guy St-Julien Liberal Abitibi, QC
Take, for example, the famous and pathetic episode about the Le Hir reports and the improprieties in the contract awarding process. Parizeau finally admitted, in December 1995, that he had known since June 1995 about these things, about the backroom schemes for the awarding of contracts.
Yvon Cyrenne, one of the Le Hir report authors, gave $900 to the PQ in 1994. Yvon Martineau, who became CEO of Hydro-Québec, contributed $1,000 to the PQ fund the year before his appointment.
People really want us to discuss the issue of political party contributions. We can do it. They want us to speak about Abitibi. If the Bloc members in this House go to the library, they will see my campaign expenses in the report of the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada. I was a candidate in Abitibi.
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Bloc
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Liberal
Guy St-Julien Liberal Abitibi, QC
In 1988. Madam Speaker, they say I switched parties. I know Lucien Bouchard. He switched parties six times.
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Bloc
Michel Bellehumeur Bloc Berthier—Montcalm, QC
Brown-nosed chameleon.
The Leader of the Bloc Quebecois in Ottawa changed party three times.
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Bloc
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Liberal
Guy St-Julien Liberal Abitibi, QC
It happened twice in my case. I am happy to have moved from one political party to another.
But let us come back to books and history. What did Guy Saint-Julien receive during the 1988 election? Oddly enough, we don't hear them talk about their electoral contributions in the last election. We don't hear them talk about their expenses and the contributions they received. I received $23,870 from 109 donors, and they were only individual contributions.
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Liberal
Guy St-Julien Liberal Abitibi, QC
None. No company at all. But if I take a look at Lac-Saint-Jean, during the same 1988 election, Lucien Bouchard received $441,388 from 448 individuals. The political organization made a donation of $105.
But something bothers me a little. Lucien Bouchard is a friend of mine and I worked part time for three weeks in his riding during an election. It's too bad he is now in Quebec because I could have asked him to tell me the meaning of “other organizations”. What does that mean? Does it come from Zimbabwe, from the United States? He received a donation of $41,065. A donation.
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Bloc
Jean-Guy Chrétien Bloc Frontenac—Mégantic, QC
Aren't you a jealous guy.
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Liberal
Guy St-Julien Liberal Abitibi, QC
Forty-one thousand dollars for one campaiagn, under “other organizations”. They don't even have the decency to indicate where it came from.
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Bloc
Jean-Guy Chrétien Bloc Frontenac—Mégantic, QC
You were in the government at that time.
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Liberal
Guy St-Julien Liberal Abitibi, QC
Madam Speaker, it is true that Quebec was the first province in Canada to limit the election expenses of parties and candidates and to reimburse candidates for part of their expenses.
They then turned around and said, “One of the innovations in the financing of political parties in Quebec concerns the contributions that can only be made by voters”.
It is true that the Canadian Parliament changed the Canada Elections Act provisions on election expenses. This was in accordance with the increases in election expenses of all political parties and of the Chief Electoral Officer in his statutory reports for 1979, 1980 and 1983. Essentially, maximum election expenses were raised by 30%. These expenses can no longer be incurred by third parties. Candidates will have their expenses reimbursed. Under a new scheme, political parties will have part of their election expenses reimbursed also.
Members opposite have been talking about the hon. member for Abitibi several times and the financing of his campaign. It is quite true that the public cannot be fooled. People in Quebec and Abitibi will not be fooled. But maybe—
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Some hon. members
Oh, oh!