House of Commons Hansard #199 of the 36th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was grain.
Mauril Bélanger LiberalParliamentary Secretary to Minister of Canadian Heritage
Mr. Speaker, that clerical error was made by a subcontractor and was corrected immediately.
It is disappointing to see that, while Bloc Quebecois members have an opportunity to celebrate and to congratulate and befriend other francophones in the country, they once again choose to nitpick and to—
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
In the end, despise us.
I find this very regrettable. They are our friends only when it suits them.
Monique Guay Bloc Laurentides, QC
Mr. Speaker, the file holder is bilingual, but the content is in English.
Does this not reflect, sadly, what bilingualism is all too often about in Canada? Behind a nice bilingual facade to impress people, things are done in English.
Mauril Bélanger LiberalParliamentary Secretary to Minister of Canadian Heritage
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member was there this morning. She cannot say that it was conducted in English. It was essentially conducted in French.
What is regrettable in all this is the attitude of the Reform Party and of the Bloc Quebecois when we talk about the Francophonie. Reformers say that French Canadians run everything, when in fact French and English Canadians share the responsibility of managing the affairs of the country.
As for the Government of Quebec, it claims, through its Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, that “Quebec cannot, within the Canadian Francophonie, be put on the same level as francophone minorities in the rest of Canada”.
Again, they are our friends when it suits them.
Chuck Strahl Reform Fraser Valley, BC
Mr. Speaker, the transitional jobs fund is beginning to look like a Liberal slush fund. First a Liberal bagman named Pierre Corbeil used these grants to shake down companies to make donations to the Liberal Party. Now we learn that just before the last election, the Prime Minister's personal assistant, Denise Tremblay, sat in on a meeting where a friend of the Prime Minister was applying for the grants. The bureaucrats certainly got the message. They came across with $164,000 in grant money for this guy.
Why did the Prime Minister use his influence to milk this fund for his friends?
Transitional Jobs FundOral Question Period
The Speaker
Again, I ask member to be very judicious in their questions. The hon. Minister of Human Resources Development.
Pierre Pettigrew LiberalMinister of Human Resources Development
Mr. Speaker, the very strength of the transitional jobs fund is the local consultations that are required to ensure that the community is advised of the initiatives being proposed.
My department recommended this project for approval because it met all the standard eligibility criteria under the transitional jobs fund. Part of the criteria is to take the input of all MPs in the areas that are eligible for the TJF.
The project continues to meet its contractual obligations and has created the 19 jobs forecasted.
Chuck Strahl Reform Fraser Valley, BC
Mr. Speaker, it sounds like the hon. member is paraphrasing another leader we know, “I did not have personal relations with those bureaucrats; I had my assistant do it”.
Who is this guy that government members went to bat for? His name is Yvon Duhaime. He is a three time convicted criminal. Not just that, but he is the guy who took that money losing property off the Prime Minister's hands. It gets worse than that. The Prime Minister's personal assistant actually sat in on the steering committee where Duhaime got permission to get this money.
The message to the bureaucrats was perfectly clear: This is a friend of the Prime Minister's, so let us cough up with the cash. That sounds awfully close to influence peddling.
Transitional Jobs FundOral Question Period
The Speaker
The hon. member for Beauharnois—Salaberry.
Daniel Turp Bloc Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC
Mr. Speaker, Quebec's Minister of International Relations, Louise Beaudoin, said she was waiting for the go-ahead from Ottawa before speaking on behalf of Quebec at the Mexico meeting on cultural diversity, which is a follow-up to the Ottawa meeting last June.
Since the Prime Minister said yesterday that he was the one who gave the floor to Quebec, does he intend to give that floor to Quebec in Mexico, as opposed to what he did last year in Ottawa?
Jean Chrétien LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, at any conference like this, when a representative from the Government of Quebec or representatives from other provincial governments are present, they can take part in the discussion. The ministers and officials representing the government are very happy to let them speak when they have something interesting to say.
Daniel Turp Bloc Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC
Mr. Speaker, last year, Ms. Beaudoin did not wish to take part because she was invited to listen but not to speak.
What explanation can the Prime Minister and the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs therefore give for both being even more opposed to letting Quebec speak than ministers of a foreign government such as France?
Jean Chrétien LiberalPrime Minister
Mr. Speaker, the Pequists are now demanding the right to speak. When we invite them to celebrate the Canadian Francophonie here in Ottawa, for example, they are not interested. All that interests them is trying to make political hay at the expense of the fundamental rights of all French Canadians in this country.
Diane Ablonczy Reform Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Mr. Speaker, on October 9, 1997 the Minister for Human Resources Development told this House “the Prime Minister has never lobbied or influenced me”. How can he possibly say this when the Prime Minister's special representative was sitting in the room when a decision was made affecting his friend?
Pierre Pettigrew LiberalMinister of Human Resources Development
Mr. Speaker, if the member is talking about influence peddling or that kind of thing, I can tell her that this is not at all what happened.
There is a large process in which all MPs, including the Reform MPs, and I can give a list of them, are consulted for projects in their ridings. All the Reform Party is saying now is that the Prime Minister is a very good member for Saint-Maurice because he looked after job creation in his riding, like all MPs who are consulted. The transitional jobs fund is a very good program.
Transitional Jobs FundOral Question Period
The Speaker
Order. We will go to the next question but I think we should listen to the answers.
Diane Ablonczy Reform Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Mr. Speaker, if there was absolutely no wrongdoing on this file, in spite of all the smoking guns surrounding it, will the minister undertake today to table all the documents relating to this grant application without a gallon of whiteout spilled all over them?
Pierre Pettigrew LiberalMinister of Human Resources Development
Mr. Speaker, I can very clearly tell the member, the House and Canadians one thing.
The Prime Minister's riding office did not intervene any more than did the member for Prince George—Peace River when he was consulted for the forestry project, no more than the Reform member for Okanagan—Shuswap who was consulted for a project in his riding, no more than the member for Nanaimo—Alberni who was consulted for the Port Alberni marina. We create jobs in regions—
Transitional Jobs FundOral Question Period
The Speaker
Order. The hon. member of Roberval.
Michel Gauthier Bloc Roberval, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Foreign Affairs for France has added his voice to that of his colleague, the Minister of Culture, reaffirming Quebec's right to express itself internationally.
The key spokesperson for the opposition in France has also made the statement that all French politicians were unanimously in favour of Quebec's having this right.
With all these additional opinions being voiced, does the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs still maintain his profound analysis of last week, which was that France's support of Quebec was merely the result of the inexperience of its Minister of Culture?
International Cultural ForumsOral Question Period
Saint-Laurent—Cartierville Québec
Liberal
Stéphane Dion LiberalPresident of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs
Mr. Speaker, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs has said that he did not believe that his colleague regretted her actions. That is all he said.
The Government of Canada, which has a profound respect for the political sovereignty and territorial integrity of the one indivisible French Republic, always takes for granted that the French government respects the political sovereignty of Canada.
And we would certainly not go stirring up separatism in Guadeloupe.
Claude Drouin Liberal Beauce, QC
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Prime Minister.
In its budget last month, the Government of Canada announced an additional $1.4 billion would soon be paid to Quebec.
I therefore ask the Prime Minister what became of this money to be paid to Quebec as part of the equalization payment program?