Walt Lastewka

[Standing Committee on Public Accounts, May 7th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, let me make it perfectly clear. There is a public inquiry in place. There is a special counsel in place. Any items that have to be referred to the RCMP have been referred to the RCMP. The responsibilities of the public accounts committee, as very clearly explained by the Auditor General, are to find out what happened and make recommendations to the House on how to proceed in going forward. That opposition party is the one that has tried to stop the Auditor General from coming to the committee.

[Standing Committee on Public Accounts, May 7th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the public accounts committee has heard many witnesses. The public accounts committee has been trying to focus in on what happened.

We have three and a half feet of paperwork. The Prime Minister released information, cabinet documents that had never been released before. All the information is there.

On a day like today, when the public inquiry commissioner makes his announcement, to have that member say that we are shutting down the public accounts committee is totally ludicrous.

[Standing Committee on Public Accounts, May 7th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, that opposition member, other members of his party and members of the opposition did not want to hear from Mr. Guité. They did not want to hear from Mr. Quail. They did not want to have the Auditor General back. In fact, they filibustered instead of having the Auditor General back.

The Auditor General was very clear in her advice that there were no moneys stolen. The $100 million amount is a track we are following making sure that all the invoices and all the events have been documented. That has been tabled by the committee and more documents will be tabled by the committee.

[Standing Committee on Public Accounts, May 7th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, it is very clear that the public accounts committee has heard numerous witnesses over the past nine weeks. The position of the committee has been to get a synopsis and a report of what has happened in the last nine weeks that could be shared with Canadians.

There is no intention of cutting off any witnesses or debate but we have had nine weeks of many witnesses, many hours working through recess weeks to make sure that we had as much data as possible and that should be shared with Canadians.

[Standing Committee on Public Accounts, May 6th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, it is very important that the public accounts committee hears key witnesses to get to the root cause.

We have been having these key witnesses come forward despite the fact that the opposition members have tried to stop them. Let me repeat again, we want the Auditor General and Mr. Quail, the deputy minister, to come back.

That is exactly the responsibility of the committee. It is not to politicize everything but to get to the root cause and find what is best for taxpayers and Canadians.

[Standing Committee on Public Accounts, May 6th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, in case my earlier comments were not heard, let me repeat again. The government members have been putting forward the key witnesses to come to the committee and come back to the committee after we have heard various testimony.

The opposition tried to stop the Auditor General this morning. It tried to delay people who are experts in the field of political science.

In fact, today, after hearing Dr. Franks, the opposition was all pleased that we had brought this witness forward who it tried to block.

[Standing Committee on Public Accounts, May 6th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the government and the Prime Minister have allowed the cabinet documents to be released. In fact, we have three and half feet of documents to read. The opposition is not even going through the documents. It is not trying to get down to the root cause.

Various media and people have said that it is time to have the research synopsis of these last number of months and let us get down to the root cause. Let us not delay and delay, and have the politicking that the opposition tries to do all the time.

[Standing Committee on Public Accounts, May 6th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I find that surprising from the member opposite who also tried to not have the Auditor General appear and not to have key witnesses appear.

In fact, Dr. Franks said today that the public accounts committee now faces the question of what ought to be the ministerial and deputy ministerial responsibilities and accountabilities of the government to Parliament. That is exactly what we need to be doing on the public accounts committee, not the politicking that those members are trying to put forward in that committee.

[Standing Committee on Public Accounts, May 6th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General said today that she was pleased with the work that the government has put into place: the inquiry, the RCMP, and the forensics.

In fact, she even said very clearly that we need to understand what the responsibilities of a minister are and what the responsibilities of a deputy minister are, and get to the root of the cause. That is exactly what the opposition is trying not to do.

[Standing Committee on Public Accounts, May 6th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, let me make it clear. The opposition blocked having Mr. Guité's testimony made public. It tried to stop Mr. Guité from coming here for two days. In fact, it insulted the government by saying that he would never appear, and he did appear. He was a very valuable and key witness.

The opposition also tried to block Mr. Quail from coming to the committee. I am very disappointed that this morning the member even tried to filibuster to stop the Auditor General from being there.