They represent Canada, how ironic. I am glad. But now, we are being told we are the puppets of the corporations. You cannot put a number on a principle. You cannot put a price on a principle. Whether you accept one, 27 or 100,000 contributions, it is all the same. If you agree with the principle you should set an example. They say: the legislation is there, we accepted only 27 donations. Does it mean they are the puppets of those who donated to their party? When the member for Drummond gets a contribution of $1,500, when the candidate in Laval West, Michel Leduc, gets a contribution of $2,000, are they the puppets of the contributors?
But Bloc members have a short memory. When we do some research, when we do not read the papers, just to prepare for our period of questions, when we do some real research, we realize that, on the Bloc side—I do not know if this is customary, I hope not. On October 3, 1993, an article said that enumerators, not the Liberal candidate, because what was said earlier is false, not the Liberal candidate, but enumerators who were to be employed by Elections Canada, had some complaints about the member for Témiscamingue and his team. I will read this, this is too serious. I am disappointed by this sort of things. Yes, I have been running for election for a long time, but I am in politics to represent the people and to get rid of the cynicism that we constantly see.
The article reads as follows: “The methods of the organization of Pierre Brien, a Bloc Quebecois candidate in the riding of Témiscamingue, have led to protests by enumerators for Elections Canada, who were allegedly under pressure to give up half of their salary as a voluntary contribution to this same political organization and, most important, it demanded postdated cheques because it needed some cash”. Not only it is poor, but it wants postdated cheques drawn on public funds. This is appalling. This is unacceptable.
We can find many examples of people screaming blue murder as well as of whited sepulchres, an expression so dear to their spiritual leader René Lévesque. Some people should look at themselves in the mirror. This does not come from a political party.
So you want names? Five enumerators in Authier-Nord and Macamic; Pierre Boucher and Martine Lefebvre are mentioned. They say “He asked $160 in my case and $200 in mine”. If I were in their shoes, I would be ashamed. This does not make any sense. They should start reading their polls and asking themselves why people rate them so poorly on credibility.
We have all been elected, we know how it works. Most of those people who work are needy, they need a little money to be able to finish paying for their food. And what do we see? We see the people opposite doing this sort of things. They should be ashamed to prey on people in need.
When we look at the whole issue of contributions and see that, to make ends meet, all they have to do is accept a loan, because they need cash, so they go to the Mouvement Desjardins and get a $1.5 million loan at preferred rates. I for one am not able to get preferred rates. However, because the chairman of the Mouvement Desjardins, Claude Béland, is a committed separatist—we have seen it, he has said so often on television—well, he told them: “This can be arranged. We will arrange that for you”.
Then they said: “OK, but this is not a donation, it is a loan”. Yes, but it is cash, it is preferred rates. What does it mean? Are they in the pay of the Mouvement Desjardins? Does that mean that, because of the Mouvement Desjardins, each time we have a legislation on banks, they will all take position for the Mouvement Desjardins? Is that what it means? Then they y get their marching orders from the Mouvement Desjardins. That is pretty serious.
The Reform Party has been whining once more because it does not understand a single thing. They must be from another planet or from another galaxy.
The Reform Party has received 925 contributions from corporations for a total of $815,520. And now, they want to fool around with the repayment of expenses. I would like the Reform Party to move a motion to the effect that they will hand back all the money they were reimbursed. Give that money to us. We will give it back to Election Canada and it will be invested in job creation. That should be all right.
We all know that the Bloc is nothing but a branch of the Quebec government. Many questions beg to be asked. Once more today, Bloc members have played holier than thou. When they realized there would be no allegations—I hope they will apologize. I hope they will apologize to Jacques Roy.
They had a whole series of questions, but when they realized a letter confirmed Jacques Roy was not being investigated, they scrapped their oral question period and resorted to plan B. They started to talk about financing for political parties by the public again.
There have been allegations from businessmen in the Outaouais area to the effect that they were pressured by PQ organizers to contribute to the PQ campaign after getting contracts during the construction of the casino. The question is not whether a minimum of $3,000 was set. The issue is that they were pressured to contribute. Who is their leader? The real Bloc leader is Lucien Bouchard. I hope they will give me an answer.
Their good friend, the member for Richelieu, the Minister of International Relations, who begs for yes votes abroad with taxpayers' money, who is responsible for the Outaouais region, awarded a lavish contract for professional services, at a cost of $577,328, to a political sympathizer, Jean Fournier, Jean Rochon's former chief of staff. I understands why he left. I hope that Jean Rochon, the health minister, will do the same. Since August 14, Mr. Fournier has acted as consultant on new technologies for Quebec's general delegation in Paris. They created that post to get that amount. We are well informed. We did our homework. Do you want other examples?
The Le Hir report was put aside because it did not suit their purpose. Do you remember all the irregularities that were found in the procurement process? Oops, I forgot. Poof! like today's balloon, it is gone.
Yvon Cyrenne, one of the authors of the Le Hir report—it was quite the profitable venture, as a lot of money went into it— gave $900 to the Parti Quebecois in 1994. Yvon Martineau, who was appointed president of Hydro-Quebec when Mr. Parizeau was in office, contributed $1,000 just before he was appointed. That is the truth.