Guy St-Julien

[Supply, October 9th, 1997]

You know, everything is public information nowadays. My expenses for the June 2 election have already been tabled. There was a deadline. They have been tabled and if anyone wants to see them, they have only to pay for copies from the returning officer in my riding.

On the topic of mines, Madam Speaker, I do not think that that person has ever visited Abitibi. Abitibi covers 802,000 square kilometres, and has a population of over 92,000. It stretches from Val d'Or, the mining sector, to the Raglan sector in the east. The Raglan mine is 2,000 miles away. That is the same distance as from Abitibi to Tampa, Florida.

But I want to get back to Raglan. The member for Rouyn-Noranda is right. As I was saying earlier, the head of Raglan, of Falconbridge in New Quebec, is Gerry Bilodeau. I visited that mine in August. I know Michel Rioux very well. It is regrettable that such things are being said in Quebec.

[Supply, October 9th, 1997]

Madam Speaker, my constituents in Abitibi know that I stand up for what I believe in. I am an honest person. I get books out of the library. I dig up figures. I even go get—

[Supply, October 9th, 1997]

Madam Speaker, it is strange, but—

[Supply, October 9th, 1997]

The hon. member for Rouyn-Noranda is right when he speaks about the Raglan mining company. He is dead right. I know Michel Rioux of that company quite well. He is a man of integrity.

[Supply, October 9th, 1997]

We are talking about contributions. I do not have a single contribution from mining companies, although we have a number of them in my area. The Raglan mining company is located in the northern part of my riding.

[Supply, October 9th, 1997]

They can keep talking all they want, but I may be the first member of this House to talk about the campaign preceding the June 2 election. That is not so long ago.

I have here the list of contributions to my campaign. No Bloc member could hand me his own list right away. I will give them 60 seconds.

[Supply, October 9th, 1997]

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—

[Supply, October 9th, 1997]

Forty-one thousand dollars for one campaiagn, under “other organizations”. They don't even have the decency to indicate where it came from.

[Supply, October 9th, 1997]

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.

[Supply, October 9th, 1997]

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.