Government Operations Committee on June 20th, 2006

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

I did table in the House, and I'd be happy to give you a copy from the Governor General's warrants, what vote 5 was specifically used for. Do you have it?

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Yes.

Do I still have a few minutes?

[The Chair, Liberal, Diane Marleau]

Yes, another minute and a half.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

I probably shouldn't have used the word “slush fund”--the reserve fund. Does the reserve fund have a limit to it?

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

It's $750 million.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

That is a budgeted limit.

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

That's hard.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

So once we use that up, it's all gone.

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

In order to get Governor General's warrants, you actually have to draw down all your votes. The previous government did two Governor General's warrants. Understandably, we did another two after the election. So those have to be drawn down before you can go to the Governor General. You have very narrow circumstances where you can go to Governor General's warrants.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Based on that comment, when we had the Governor General's warrants because of election time, was there anything in there you were not happy with, after reviewing? Because obviously it's already spent.

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

To my knowledge, I didn't see anything by the previous government or current government that...I wouldn't say I was not happy with, because I think we all bring our different perspectives to the table, but I didn't see anything suspicious. It all looked fairly straightforward.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Okay, thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Diane Marleau]

Thank you.

Monsieur Bonin.

[Raymond Bonin, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Minister, colleagues, thank you for coming here today.

Mr. Minister, I was pleased to hear your comments about the regions, that we need to support the regions more. I encourage you to decentralize a bit and continue the work that was done with FedNor. When the Liberals took over in 1993, FedNor had $8 million a year. They now have $50 million a year. This needs to continue in support of your position to take care of the regions.

My question is about political activity. Senior management should not get involved in partisan politics. I think that's an accepted thing in Ottawa.

During the Airbus affair, Chuck Guité was identified as the Conservative crony, and proof of that is on page 343 of the book On the Take. Then the sponsorship scandal was identified, and it showed Guité as the Liberal crony now, even though he dealt with Brault, a known separatist; Coffin, a definite Conservative; and Corriveau, a definite Liberal.

What is the procedure in senior management to control political activity by senior management? This one has been going on for 15 years. How was he able to get away with that? Your colleagues identify Mr. Guité as a Liberal, in the House, outside the House, everywhere. What is the procedure to control political activity in senior management?

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

I would take exception. Justice Gomery--

[Raymond Bonin, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

No, I'm asking you about the procedure.

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

I would take exception to the premise of your question. I don't think it would be fair to suggest that Justice Gomery, after hearing 100 or 200 witnesses.... He's a judge. It was a judicial inquiry held under the Inquiries Act. I think it would be wrong, false, even malicious to suggest that Justice Gomery and Stevie Cameron are in any way, shape, or form parallel in their conclusions.

[Raymond Bonin, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

I didn't suggest that.

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Yes, you did. You quoted a particular page from Stevie Cameron, and then you quoted Justice Gomery's report.

[Raymond Bonin, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

No, I quoted a page of a book that was written on the Airbus affair, which was never properly investigated with an inquiry--

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Why didn't your government call one?

[Raymond Bonin, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

--but the sponsorship scandal was.

The question is about political activity among your senior bureaucrats.

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

You can't make a malicious comment and then ask a question and expect that I'm going to respond.

[Raymond Bonin, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

I stand by my comment, and I'm asking you if you will respond to my question about the procedure to deal with political activity in senior management. If you don't want to answer that question, that's fine, it won't be answered and we'll move on to the next questioner.

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

I'm going to respond to your statement. If the previous government thought there was ample reason to call a public inquiry, they had 13 years to do so.