Human Resources Development  I ask the minister again how many of her officials has she moved, suspended or fired as a result of this boondoggle.

Supply  As a member of parliament who represents one of the ridings which has one of these 37 so-called boondoggles, or billion dollar mess-ups that the opposition likes to say, I would like to explain to people exactly what the one is in my riding. The Fanshawe College, with the help of Human Resources Development Canada, got a grant of $19,800 to promote summer student jobs.

Human Resources Development  They just want more of it. There were 37 tax increases since they took office. As the latest billion dollar boondoggle glaringly shows, when the Liberals get our money they abuse it, misuse it and lose it.

Supply  Reducing corporate tax, payroll taxes and those kinds of things provide incentive and release money for investment. It is a real shame that this $1 billion or more boondoggle seems to be endemic and systemic in the government. It is money that could well be used in other areas. When we have had significant cuts in health and post-secondary education and we have not had the kind of support for farmers in terms of a subsidy war across the world, it is a real shameful thing in my view.

Supply  Always the same person, the Prime Minister. Does he not have the primary responsibility for this boondoggle?

Supply  It is too easy for the former Minister of Human Resources Development, the member for Papineau—Saint-Denis, to hide behind the present Minister of Human Resources Development. I believe the one billion dollars lost in the departmental boondoggle, money belonging to the workers and to the unemployed who also made contributions, is too much. Yesterday, during oral question period, many members of all opposition parties called for the minister to resign.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, I agree with the hon. member that the responsibility for this boondoggle does not stop with the current minister. It does go back to the previous minister of human resources. I would argue that it even goes back to the minister for human resources before that, who is now the foreign affairs minister but who was there when the government set in place this type of program.

Supply  Once that happens, when there is no example of financial accountability, responsibility or integrity at the top, the fish rots from the head down. Now the little scandal in Shawinigan has mushroomed into a billion dollar boondoggle at human resources. The Prime Minister refuses to enforce the principle of ministerial accountability in the case of the human resources development minister. Why? Because he lacks the moral authority to do so.

Committees Of The House  We need to ensure that the people in Quebec as in the rest of Canada, the taxpayers who part with their hard-earned money, know for certain that their money is not being misused, abused and boondoggled.

Committees Of The House  Had we given a sense to that report at that time we probably would have avoided what has now become the billion dollar boondoggle. The recommendations that were made by the public accounts committee should be acted upon on behalf of the taxpayers of Canada. We need to be very careful. We need to make sure that we do not just routinely sweep this report under the rug.

Human Resources Development  Speaker, as usual, the Prime Minister has attempted to downplay the problems at Human Resources Development Canada by reducing the boondoggle to 37 cases. Does the Prime Minister still persist today in claiming that the scandalous mismanagement at HRDC is limited to these 37 cases?

Human Resources Development  Speaker, we have just seen a classic example of the old bait and switch technique: Instead of answering to the issue, you try to pretend the issue is something different. The issue is a billion dollar boondoggle involving public money. This minister has not proven to be very adept at answering questions and some of the answers she has given are very troubling. For example, on December 16, 1999 she said “No moneys flowed until appropriate approvals were in place”, but her own departmental audit had already informed her that was not the case.

Human Resources Development  He set the wrong example. Now that little scandal from Shawinigan has become the billion dollar boondoggle in human resources. Why does the Prime Minister not start accepting responsibility for this gross misuse of taxpayers' money and fire the Minister of Human Resources Development?

Health Care  Can hon. members imagine how many MRIs we could have bought if we had not wasted that $1 billion on a boondoggle?

Prisons  Speaker, 70% of the solicitor general's corrections staff said that his drug strategy was a failure. The only thing that he is doing is padding his own constituency with this $2.5 million boondoggle. Why will the minister continue in this way? Why does he arm himself only with pork to fight drugs?