Mr. Speaker, I would gladly answer his question in the question and comment period. If he wants to take a look at the bill, he can take a look at proposed section 10.1 and he will very clearly find the reference we are drawing attention to.
Getting back to the committee meeting we were referring to, the member for Scarborough--Rouge River believed that if the committee conducted such an inquiry with the police investigation still in process the RCMP's case might be jeopardized, but the members did agree that at some point down the road an inquiry should be done.
Guess what, we are still waiting and, believe it or not, time has not diminished the memories or the magnitude of this scandalous affair. In fact, now the question is not just the scandalous affair. It is the question of a possible cover-up.
As I am accustomed to doing in the House, I would like to quote from an article that appeared in the Edmonton Sun of November 25, 1997. I do so because it is important to demonstrate that the opinions of this side of the House are shared by others. The article states:
There should be a thorough and public fumigating of the events surrounding the $1.8 billion purchase of European Airbus passenger jets by Air Canada during Mulroney's tenure.
But not solely for the reasons stated by Mulroney in his interview.
The purpose of the inquiry in the former PM's eyes is to get to the bottom of who knew what in Ottawa--with the trail of incriminating evidence hopefully leading right to the prime minister's office.
There certainly is an air of incredibility surrounding the incident which would have Canadians believe that a lowly RCMP sergeant was flying solo when he requested the damning letter to Swiss banking authorities--the letter wherein Mulroney and other top former PC officials were implicated...We can't blame Mulroney for attempting to clear his name while at the same time holding the feet of his political tormentors to the fire...Sadly, there appears to be an unwritten rule in federal politics that governments don't go digging into the excesses of the previous regime. If only to prevent receiving the same treatment when they get booted from office.
Ottawa's cosy code appears to have been broken in the Airbus affair. And so it should have been—which is the second reason why a comprehensive probe is a good idea. The allegations in the affair, if proven, would amount to one of the biggest political scandals in Canadian history.
That's why it's absolutely necessary to assure Canadians that they aren't true.
This clearly will not happen if left to the footdragging of the Ottawa Liberals—who now have as much to answer for regarding their own behaviour as they do in seeing the RCMP investigation carried out with commitment and vigor. A thorough, comprehensive and independent inquiry into all aspects of the Airbus affair is an excellent idea. Canadians needs to know the truth.
That said, given what passes for government in Ottawa these days, there are only two chances of such an inquiry happening. And slim just left town.
In other words, what the article is saying is that the chances of that happening with this federal Liberal government are next to nothing.
It is absolutely imperative that every member of government, up to and including the Prime Minister, is subject to the laws of the land. The public must be confident that the federal government is not above the law. I thereby call upon the Liberal government to immediately bring in legislation clearly defining the role and independence of the RCMP in law enforcement.
I also call upon the government to properly and effectively respond to the Hughes report and all of its recommendations, not bury the truth as is customary for the government. Repeatedly the government has, when convenient or necessary, held back or shut down inquiries. We do not need to go back to all the different inquiries that it has brought these types of things into and then forgotten about. We know about the blood scandal and the Krever report. We know about the defence minister shutting down the Somalia inquiry. We know about all the other inquiries that have come forward and that the government has put a lid on.
In regard to the bill we again call on the government to make changes and to put some of them in the RCMP Act, not just in the bill.