House of Commons Hansard #194 of the 37th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was c-55.

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Criminal CodeAdjournment Proceedings

6:35 p.m.

Mississauga South Ontario

Liberal

Paul Szabo LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services

Madam Speaker, since we went through a lot of the detail yesterday on the very same question, I will not repeat the answer that I gave last night.

Let me address very forthrightly some of the allegations. First, he said that we gave the wrong information when we got to the parts. I quote from Hansard of yesterday, at page 11870, in which I said:

There are currently only about $1 million or less of spare parts assets.

That is currently. There have been parts sold. In fact the member identified that the value of the parts were substantially more, so the member just misunderstood the answer last night and I am sorry he did not understand.

With regard to the relationship, let me point out that the Government of Canada had assets of which to dispose. It entered into a contract on a competitive bid basis with Lancaster Aviation of Mississauga, Ontario.

Lancaster Aviation is in the business of marketing and selling surplus military assets. Lancaster transported those assets to Florida because that was where the marketplace was. There were eight Challenger jets, two Twin Huey helicopters and a substantial value of parts which were mostly parts for the obsolete Boeing 707. The Challenger jets have been sold off. The Twin Huey helicopters have been sold at fair market value. All the parts have been sold except for about $1 million worth which still have not been sold but which Lancaster continues to sell.

The member's problem is that Lancaster has leased a hangar from Airspares Inc. It is an incorporated company. It so happens that the owner of the shares of that company is someone who has been convicted of a criminal offence. The member has suggested that somehow this gentleman, who leased storage space, has taken these parts and has sold them to pay off a fine he has been charged because of his criminal offence.

The member just has not got it yet. The owner of the storage facility does not own the parts, does not sell the parts and never did sell any parts. He is leasing a hangar to Lancaster Aviation. Lancaster sold the parts and sold the planes. Lancaster got the proceeds, not this convicted felon.

The member ought to get his facts straight before he comes back to the House. I suggest that in this case the member has written to the RCMP. He has raised all these points. The RCMP simply came back to him and said that if he had any information that was worth having, to please let it know.

Criminal CodeAdjournment Proceedings

6:40 p.m.

Progressive Conservative

Greg Thompson Progressive Conservative New Brunswick Southwest, NB

Madam Speaker, again the parliamentary secretary is wrong in a number of the facts he brought before the House of Commons. I suppose that is not his fault, because he is representing a ministry that is totally out of control and this is an example of that. This is an example of why Mr. Gagliano's name has been raised consistently in the House in terms of improprieties and some of the really sloppy deals that he created as minister, only to be followed by another minister who was sacked by the Prime Minister.

The fact remains that, if the government would provide us with information that is accurate, we could lay this case to rest. I wanted documents from the department and I worked on that for a solid year. When the documents were delivered to my office, a high stack of documents, 90% of them were blacked out. Therefore we have no idea at all of what is going on.

If we talked to the attorney general of the United States of America, he would tell us that when Mr. McFliker's warehouse was raided and goods were seized, the goods that were seized could have been put in my briefcase.

The question would be whether there is $1 million worth of goods left, as the parliamentary secretary has said there is. If for one minute we can believe him, what happened to the rest of those spare parts?

Criminal CodeAdjournment Proceedings

6:40 p.m.

Liberal

Paul Szabo Liberal Mississauga South, ON

Madam Speaker, is it not wonderful that we are finally using this as the committee of the whole? We can see the member's eyes and we can see that he is very nervous about some of the statements he has made.

The contract entered into with Lancaster was competitively bid. If the member has information to the contrary and if he is making allegations, it is his responsibility and duty to raise those allegations with the proper authorities for full investigation. He has checked out this matter with the RCMP. The RCMP has said that he has no basis on the information.

I simply conclude by directly answering his allegation that somehow these parts have gone missing or have been seized by the U.S. government. I can say emphatically that the assets have not been seized by U.S. authorities and that no investigation of the sale of assets has been initiated since Lancaster continues to provide the services under the contract. There is no question that this is a two year old matter. The assets were sold in accordance with the contract, and the remaining assets will be sold.

Criminal CodeAdjournment Proceedings

6:40 p.m.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Bakopanos)

The motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted.

Accordingly, this House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m., pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 6.44 p.m.)