House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2015, with 71% of the vote.
Public Service October 7th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his question. I have also discussed this with the hon. member for Hull—Aylmer. We do respect the 75/25 principle. It is not exactly being applied at this time. This situation should be attended to as soon as possible.
Sponsorship Program October 7th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is modest about his accomplishments and he will not brag about this, but I will. The fact is that the Prime Minister's first step was to cancel the sponsorship program.
Furthermore, he established the Gomery commission which has remarkable powers and a mandate to discover the truth. We have cooperated with that commission with the fact that 1994 cabinet documents are being provided.
We in the government are not afraid of the truth and I would ask the hon. member to have similar courage and wait for Justice Gomery's report.
Sponsorship Program October 7th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the fact is that the Prime Minister has said repeatedly in the House that he was aware of the unity reserve. He was not aware of all of the individual projects and that is of significant difference. The hon. member is taking some pretty significant liberties with the truth in this case.
However, I am glad that he has once again drawn the attention to the House of the importance of transparency and openness. I would ask him to review what the Information Commissioner said yesterday when he said that the early signs were very positive, that this Prime Minister was sufficiently self-confident, courageous and honest to beat the secrecy that has been the--
Sponsorship Program October 7th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, on a day to day basis over the next several months we will hear testimony at the Gomery commission and we will not prejudge Justice Gomery's work by commenting on that testimony. Today's testimony could be contradicted by next week's testimony.
We on this side of the House, in this party, want to see the full report from Justice Gomery which will lead us to the truth. We are not going to interfere with that. The hon. member is prejudging a lot of the important work that is being done by Justice Gomery and I would urge him not to do that.
Sponsorship Program October 7th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, first of all, I draw the hon. member's attention to the statement by the Information Commissioner yesterday that lauded our Prime Minister and our government for its openness and transparency with information both for the public accounts committee and for the Gomery commission.
We have provided 10 million pages of documents to the Gomery commission and have in fact gone back to 1994 in a remarkable step for cabinet documents. We are cooperating because we want to get to the truth in this party and in this government.
Sponsorship Program October 6th, 2004
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.
Sponsorship Program October 6th, 2004
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.
Sponsorship Program October 6th, 2004
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--
New Minas, Nova Scotia April 26th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the village of New Minas, Nova Scotia has a long history that can be traced back to 1604, but it is the explosive growth of recent years that confirms its attractiveness as a great place to live.
The National Post newspaper, however, chose to portray the village in a different way. In a recently conducted survey, the newspaper invited readers to name the “crappiest town in Canada”. Based on a single anonymous letter, it picked New Minas as the winner.
New Minas is the home to the challenging Ken-Wo golf club. It is home to the largest annual soccer tournament in Atlantic Canada and is known as Canada's soccer capital. It has an abundance of recreational facilities and over 300 commercial outlets for eager shoppers.
It is truly the residents who make this community great. Earlier this month New Minas feted its volunteers at a volunteer luncheon. I salute them for making New Minas a great place to live. The National Post newspaper would do well to retract its slam on this community and salute their efforts too.
The Armenian People April 21st, 2004
Mr. Speaker, as I was discussing prior to the cellphone of the hon. member interrupting our discourse, I want to assure the hon. member that as a government we are committed to strengthening Canada-U.S. relations, a relationship that is strong, functional and effective in defending our interests in Washington.
The Prime Minister made substantive and symbolic progress in his meeting with the president in Monterrey. In fact, it was after that meeting that President Bush said he recognized that the BSE issue was not simply a Canadian issue but a Canada-U.S. issue, that we have an integrated beef industry and, as such, we ought to work together on both sides of the border at the official and the political levels to reach a common, science based approach which will enable us to defend that interest anywhere in the world.
That is what we are committed to as a government. That is what we are working to achieve. I would hope that all members of the House from all parties will continue to work to those efforts. We will continue to support that engagement.