Debates of May 1st, 2002

John Reynolds Leader of the Opposition

Mr. Speaker, let us do a review: consultant to the finance minister raises money for him on the side; another minister uses tax dollars to organize his leadership campaign in Manitoba; another minister sends grants and gives fat contracts to chums who worked to fulfill leadership dreams. Those are just the recent stuff. We have Shawinigate, billion dollar boondoggles, phoney reports, smelly land deals and, yes, $101 million of new jets.

How much more will Canadian taxpayers have to endure until the Prime Minister lives up to his promise and gives Canadians an ethics counsellor who reports directly to all parliamentarians?

Jean Chrétien Prime Minister

Mr. Speaker, the ethics counsellor appears before the committee all the time. This institution did not exist. It was established with the agreement of the opposition party in 1993.

I think that on the other side we had one member who used all the money to help another person for his campaign. It was well publicized, the member for Calgary Southeast. He used all that he had at that point going everywhere, not to educate the Canadian people but to try to have for this House a better leader than the one we will have next week.

John Reynolds Leader of the Opposition

Mr. Speaker, let us go through that list again. The finance minister hires his bagman as a departmental consultant to advise on energy taxation. Another minister pads his department payroll with a party organizer. Another minister with leadership dreams uses grants and contracts to build her fundraising team.

If we add those things to all the other scandals, it is a banquet of bungling, a smorgasbord of sleaze and a cornucopia of corruption.

When will the Prime Minister live up to his promise to have an ethics counsellor who reports to all parliamentarians?

Jean Chrétien Prime Minister

Mr. Speaker, talking about sleaze, a guy by the name of Jim Hart was persuaded to give up his seat to the leader of that party so he could come into the House of Commons. He was promised $50,000 but was not given one damn cent. The guy lost his seat and members of his party turned their backs on him. That is the party which now gets up and gives us little lectures.

Pauline Picard Drummond, QC

Mr. Speaker, the recent announcement of the bankruptcy of one of Canada's largest book publishers and distributors has raised concerns within the industry.

Will the Minister of Canadian Heritage agree that the time has come for the Liberal government to abolish the GST on books, as the Government of Quebec has, in order to give a hand to Canada's book industry.

What is she waiting for before she acts?

Sheila Copps Minister of Canadian Heritage

Mr. Speaker, we have a fairly comprehensive system for helping publishers. One of its components is the Book Publishing Industry Development Program, which provides $40 million in direct financial assistance, half of which will go to publishing houses in Quebec.

That said, I believe everyone involved in the publishing industry has a great deal of respect for Jack Stoddart. We hope a solution can be found for the problems his publishing house is experiencing. This is a person who has put a great deal of effort into building his publishing house in Canada, and Canada is greatly indebted to him.

Allan Rock Minister of Industry

Mr. Speaker, disclosure was made of all expenses for which a claim was made against the public purse. Is the member complaining that insufficient expenses were claimed?

I have to tell him that the facts are the facts. We gave a complete answer to the ATIP request entirely in accordance with the guidelines. Any money that was claimed back as public expenses was used for public purposes.

Yvan Loubier Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC

Mr. Speaker, the government is refusing to grant a reduction of the excise tax to microbreweries, on the grounds that there is not enough time to draft a complex piece of legislation to eliminate the injustice done to microbreweries, whose foreign competitors benefit from a highly preferential excise tax treatment.

Since there is very little on the legislative agenda, will the Minister of Finance pledge to immediately start working on a bill to modernize the Excise Act for microbreweries, and introduce this legislation before the end of the parliamentary session?

John McCallum Secretary of State (International Financial Institutions)

Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Quebecois continues to engage in smear tactics.

Bloc Quebecois members are well aware that the bill has nothing to do with beer. It never had anything to do with beer.

All they are doing is continuing to rely on smear tactics and cheap political tricks.

John McCallum Secretary of State (International Financial Institutions)

Mr. Speaker, as the government has said many times, we will conduct a thorough review of this charge, which is, I remind the hon. member, a charge and not a tax, in the fall. Should the revenues exceed the projected expenditures, the government has committed to not only reducing the charge but we are also open to any manner of suggestion as to changes in the structure of this charge.

Joe Clark Calgary Centre, AB

Mr. Speaker, on April 11 Nizar Naouar blew up a synagogue in Tunisia, killing 16 people. The Tunisian government has labelled this a terrorist act.

Will the minister of immigration confirm that Nizar Naouar was a Tunisian student on exchange in Canada in 1999? Is he one of the 138 missing Tunisians that Immigration Canada cannot find?

Lawrence MacAulay Solicitor General of Canada

Mr. Speaker, my right hon. colleague should be aware that we do not discuss investigations on the floor of the House of Commons or in public. Our security intelligence and police forces work with other security intelligence and police forces around the world to ensure that people who break the law are brought to justice.