Madame Speaker, I am happy to speak today in this House.
Unfortunately, the buzz word in the House these days seems to be “influence peddling”.
All the more so that there is presently in my riding a hotly debated issue which could literally burn the Liberal government since it could involve once more, influence peddling and partisanship in its organization.
It is about the much criticized relocation to the neighbouring town of Saint-Antoine-des-Laurentides of the employment centre that has always been located in Saint-Jérôme, the economic capital of the Laurentian area. But to really understand what is involved in this case, it is essential to go back over the events from the beginning.
The CEC has always been located in Saint-Jérôme's downtown core. In 1991, after the public works department accepted the bid of the property management company RAMCO Développement Inc., the latter invested $1.7 million to expand its building located in downtown, so it could accommodate the Saint-Jérôme CEC and meet the department's requirements.
Last summer, public works elected to make use of a one year renewal option on CEC's lease ending in April 1998. In June of this year, Public Works Canada suddenly informed RAMCO, without going into great detail, that there would be a call for proposals on invitation. The location perimeter for that proposal call, which is without precedent in the history of the CEC of Saint-Jérôme, will be extended as to include the town of Saint-Antoine-des-Laurentides, where there is space available in a shopping centre. Now rumour has it that those premises belong to a friend of the Liberals, someone who had contributed to the party's election fund. How peculiar.
Members will agree that this is where the problem lies. Why extend the location perimeter of the CEC's premises? Why does the federal government feel compelled to get involved, with its not so subtle approach, and without any concern for the development priorities established by the locals?
In this regard, on July 26, the Rivière-du-Nord RCM undertook to review its development plan in an interim control resolution, which provided, and I quote: “That any new government or quasi government service be established in downtown Saint-Jérôme”. The resolution was passed by a majority of the mayors of the Rivière-du-Nord RCM on September 17.
The Minister of Human Resources Development was in fact made aware of this in a letter from Gaston Laviolette, the mayor of the municipality of Bellefeuille and the reeve of the Rivière-du-Nord RCM and Marc Gascon, the mayor of the city of Saint-Jérôme.
Despite the relevance of their remarks, the minister turned a deaf ear. On the strength of this we can assume that the minister has no sense of what is involved in regional development, since this is what it is all about.
I too put pressure on the two ministers concerned in this matter. On many occasions I called the offices of the Minister of Human Resources Development and of the Minister of Public Works. I finally managed to meet the executive assistant of the Minister of Public Works with my colleagues Mr. Gascon, the mayor of Saint-Jérôme and Mr. Laviolette, a mayor and the reeve of the Rivière-du-Nord RCM. Here again, nothing came of the contact.
Unable to meet the Minister of Human Resources Development, I took the initiative of stopping him in the Liberal's backroom. After hardly a word was said, the minister, who was already on the defensive, made it clear he did not want to hear anything about partisan politics in the matter.
However, after I added new facts, which, I add, disagreeably surprised him, he changed his attitude to some extent and assured me that he would look into the matter and would get back to me about my concerns. However, I still have heard nothing from the minister.
I am still waiting for word from you, Mr. Minister. I assume he is too busy with the RCMP investigation of allegations of influence peddling—