Madam Speaker, the HRDC boondoggle will just not go away. The HRDC problem is the tip of the iceberg.
This debate came about as a result of a random audit to evaluate 459 projects receiving $235 million in grants and contributions from HRDC. The findings were astounding, to say the least: 97% contained no evidence of checks to see whether the recipients owed money to HRDC; 80% contained no evidence of financial monitoring; 72% did not have a cashflow forecast; two-thirds did not have a rationale for recommending the project; and 15% did not have an application form. This is unbelievable.
TJF grants are supposed to be used to create sustainable jobs. But at what cost? Here are some examples. Confections St-Élie Inc., a textile company in the Prime Minister's riding, failed to create the 61 jobs it had been committed to create but continued to receive a payment of $223,000 in 1997. A program to teach troubled youths to fix slush puppy and espresso machines received $300,000. Of the 20 who took the course, 4 found work.
Was the transitional jobs fund a slush fund? Let us take a look. In 1997, Pierre Corbeil, a key Liberal fundraiser in Quebec, was charged with four counts of influence peddling for allegedly threatening to dismiss or stall TJF grant requests unless firms donated to the party. He later pleaded guilty.
A 1998 independent review by Ekos Research Associates Inc. suggested that TJF grants were approved for political reasons. In 1999 the question was raised as to whether the Prime Minister used his power to secure a federal grant for a friend, Yvon Duhaime, to expand his hotel. Mr. Duhaime, whose hotel, Auberge Grand-Mère, sits in the Prime Minister's riding of Saint-Maurice and was once owned by the Prime Minister himself, received a grant of $164,000 as well as an additional $650,000 in government loans even though federal officials had a report indicating the hotel was poorly managed and had massive debt.
There seems to be no end to the shovelgate affair. There are at least 13 RCMP investigations occurring at this time.
I will conclude by quoting the auditor's report of December 1998, the section under the heading of grants and contributions. It states:
Our audits of the management of grant and contribution programs over the past 21 years have produced a long series of consistent observations: problems in compliance with program authorities, weaknesses in program design, instances of poor controls, and insufficient performance measurement and reporting. Overall we have continued to find the same problems. There are many reasons why these problems have persisted. They range from decision-makers not following the rules governing expenditures on grants and contributions to weak management practices.
The government, over the last 21 years, has not been accountable enough to pay attention to the findings of the auditor general. It is unfortunate that the auditor general does not have teeth. Perhaps it is long overdue that the House give the auditor general some teeth. After all, the buck stops with the politicians. The money belongs to the people. People expect responsible government, not a government that tries to write off the HRDC boondoggle as no big deal.