Debates of Oct. 6th, 2004

Sponsorship Program

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, it is very important that we not prejudge the work of Justice Gomery. Justice Gomery has been given a very broad mandate, significant resources and in fact over 10 million documents--

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker]

Order, please. I cannot hear the minister's answer due to there being so much noise in the House. We have to have some order. Let us start out on the correct foot.

The minister has the floor but I cannot hear him. I want to hear the answer.

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the fact is Justice Gomery has been given a significant mandate with complete cooperation by the Government of Canada. In fact, over 10 million documents have been turned over to Justice Gomery. We are looking forward to his report. We will not prejudge the work of Justice Gomery. I would urge the hon. member to give the same respect to an independent judicial inquiry.

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Central Nova, NS]

There was a time, Mr. Speaker, when that member actually cared about getting to the bottom of this matter.

The cabinet documents given to the Gomery commission show that the government's strategy on national unity involved a substantial strengthening of its Liberal Party in Quebec. This is an unprecedented breech of public trust and of cabinet concentrated discussions on partisan interests.

We know from the recently released audit that the ad firms cited by the Auditor General donated $1.5 million to the Liberal Party of Canada.

Why did the government's strategy to strengthen its party's fortunes in Quebec include donations from ad agencies receiving government contracts?

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, the fact is that we will not be discussing the day to day testimony of the Gomery inquiry because we want to get the full picture and have a look at the report. We are taking that very seriously because we on this side of the House in the Liberal Party want to get to the truth.

The fact is that the president of the Liberal Party of Canada has committed to returning any funds received from any firm that was involved in wrongdoing at the end of the Gomery inquiry to those individuals.

Speech from the Throne

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, on June 28 the people of Quebec once again elected a majority of Bloc Quebecois members of Parliament to represent Quebec in Ottawa. In a minority government situation, the Prime Minister is obliged to take Quebec's concerns into consideration. He has not done so, and the throne speech proves this in black and white.

Does the Prime Minister realize that he has not done his duty and that he lacks respect for Quebec, as he continues to push for more centralization and more encroachment?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, is the leader of the Bloc telling us that health is not a priority for the people of Quebec?

Is he telling us that the environment is not a priority for the people of Quebec?

Is he telling us that the Canada's role in the world—the situation in Darfur, for example—is not a priority for the people of Quebec.

I am from Quebec and I can guarantee that these are priorities for Quebeckers.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister can talk all he likes about cooperation, but he shows no concern for the priorities of Quebeckers when it comes to managing their own affairs in their own areas of jurisdiction. That is one of their priorities and he is not recognizing it. Centralization pervades this throne speech. There are encroachments in education and manpower training, day care and municipalities. The government wants to create more Canadian programs with Canadian standards.

Will the Prime Minister at least have the decency to recognize that in Quebec's areas of jurisdiction he, like Jean Chrétien, has his foot on the gas and on symmetry?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, not only is there no encroachment, but we have complete respect for all provincial jurisdictions, including that of Quebec.

I would like to take the opportunity in this House to congratulate Premier Charest on his leadership in bringing about the agreement on health. It sets a very important precedent from which all Quebeckers and all other Canadians will benefit.

[Michel Gauthier, Bloc, Roberval, QC]

Mr. Speaker, scarcely a month ago, the ministers of this government were talking about the discovery of the century: asymmetrical federalism. This was to be the antidote to centralizing federalism.

How can the Prime Minister explain the total absence from the entire Speech from the Throne yesterday of any reference to this concept of asymmetrical federalism? Instead, we got national standards, Canada-wide studies, accountability in the health care field. What has become of asymmetry?

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, our Prime Minister has always said that his federalism would be flexible and respectful of differences.

What are the guiding principles set out in the throne speech? Seven in number, they include recognition of diversity. And what is that, if not asymmetrical federalism?

[Michel Gauthier, Bloc, Roberval, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I will read a quote if I may:

The Government will work with the provinces to ensure that our shared fiscal challenge is dealt with co-operatively and creatively.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

[Michel Gauthier, Bloc, Roberval, QC]

I can understand the hon. members' applause, since that is a quote from the Jean Chrétien government's 1994 throne speech.

My question for the Prime Minister is this: Is this is not proof that the language has not changed, nor has the attitude, so we can expect the same confrontations as under the Chrétien government? The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I can readily understand that the Bloc Quebecois is having trouble acknowledging our past successes in the health field or celebrating those successes.

The Prime Minister walks the walk as well as talking the talk. He has proven this with health care, as he will in all the other fields referred to in the Speech from the Throne.

[Jack Layton, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday's Speech from the Throne marked the fifth time this government has promised to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

However, since the first promise 11 years ago, Canada's pollution rate continues to rise. Canada is one of the worst polluting countries in the industrialized world.

My question is for the Prime Minister. After so many fine speeches and empty promises but no concrete action, why should Canadians believe the Prime Minister this time?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, first I would like to congratulate the leader of the New Democratic Party, who is a new member in this House. I congratulate him on being elected.

Now, I can assure him that we are very concerned about the whole issue of greenhouse gas emissions and the Kyoto protocol. It is certainly our intention to meet our obligations.

[Jack Layton, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Mr. Speaker, perhaps as expected, more words and more promises.

While I appreciate the good wishes, the government does not seem to have the sense of urgency that must be applied to the issue of the climate change crisis. What we have had are speeches after speeches, throne speech after throne speech with the same promises and yet we fall further and further behind.

Will the Prime Minister give us some reason to hope that there will be some action this time rather than more broken promises, such as we have seen year after year?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, let me simply give the hon. member one example. As he knows, when he was with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities he asked for municipal funds to deal with the environment. The fact is that we delivered and they have been very successful.

Then we said that when the shares of Petro-Canada were sold that a substantial portion, up to a billion dollars of that money, would go into environmental technologies. I am glad to say in the House, after one of the most successful secondary offerings, I am certainly prepared to congratulate the Minister of Finance. We have that money and it will go into environmental technologies.

Canada Post

[Brian Pallister, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the Deloitte & Touche Canada Post audit screamed Liberal corruption. It found President André Ouellet directed contracts to Liberal friendly firms. He ran up more than $2 million in expenses without receipts and skirted hiring rules to push for jobs for Liberal friends and family members.

The report was pure political dynamite. Will the Prime Minister tell the House why this scandalous report was not made public prior to the election?

[John McCallum, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to inform the House that action has been taken on the matter of the receipts of Mr. Ouellet. In the first place, the chair of the board wrote to Mr. Ouellet on September 21 requesting those receipts. In the second place, I am pleased to inform the House, in my capacity as minister responsible for Canada Post, that the Canada Revenue Agency is in the process of conducting a single purpose audit surrounding the expenses of the president's office over the past five years.

[Brian Pallister, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Mr. Speaker, due diligence only when caught.

The fact is that the Prime Minister was given the Deloitte & Touche audit prior to the election, but he chose not to release it. Why not? Former revenue minister Stan Keyes had the answer. He said that was just too sensitive for politicians to deal with. He meant Liberal politicians. The fact is the Prime Minister delayed the truth and in so doing he hid the truth.

Will the Prime Minister admit to the House today that not only does he not want to get to the truth; he cannot handle the truth?

[John McCallum, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, the portfolio before the election was handled very capably by my predecessor. What I can say is that the report is public and that the government is taking action. The board is taking determined action and it has a timetable to take action upon.

In terms of the item which has generated the most attention, the receipts, I just have informed the House that those have been requested and that according to Canada Post, an audit is currently being conducted to examine the receipts and the expenditures surrounding the president's office over five years. That is action.

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Mr. Speaker, last week the revenue minister appointed a friend of his and former banking colleague as the chair of Canada Post. The appointment violated the Treasury Board guidelines that the government established, and has demonstrated yet again that the government has a lot to learn when it comes to transparency and accountability.

Canadians want to know why did the revenue minister break the rules to give a job to his friend?