Before beginning Statements by Members, I have something to say about the point of order the hon. House leader of the Bloc Quebecois raised yesterday concerning the Prime Minister's reply to a question posed by the hon. leader of the Bloc Quebecois on March 21, 2001.
The hon. member for Roberval alleged that the office of the Prime Minister had improperly intervened with the publications process to change the reply given by the Prime Minister as it appeared in the blues so that it read substantively differently when printed in Hansard . Specifically, he said that the phrase “nous n'avions pas d'intérêt financier” was changed to “nous n'avions pas de parts” and that this constitutes a substantive change that is unacceptable under our usual practices.
I have now had an opportunity to review all the pertinent information on this case: the video tape of the exchange, the blues and the official Hansard , and I asked for and received a report from my officials on this matter. This is what have I learned.
The videotape of the exchange shows the Prime Minister's reply, with the phrase “nous n'avions pas de parts” just as indicated in the official Hansard .
However, that portion of the tape is admittedly hard to understand and the reply may have contained some additional words that remain unclear in listening to the tape. It appears that the transcriber preparing the blues, faced with a difficult portion of the tape to decipher, sought, as is often the case, the context of the question in the words of the questioner. So, the words “nous n'avions pas d'intérêt financier” appear in the blues, which, I remind hon. members, are the unedited transcript of the first take on transcribing events in the Chamber.
The change from the phrase in the blues “nous n'avions pas d'intérêt financier” to the phrase in the Debates “nous n'avions pas de parts” was made by the Hansard editors as a result of their listening to the tape and coming to the conclusion, as I invite members themselves to do, that this was the accurate transcription of the phrase used in the Prime Minister's reply.
I am satisfied that there was no impropriety here and no interference with the usual practices concerning the preparation of the official record of House Debates . I thank the hon. member for his intervention.
I therefore conclude that the allegations of the member for Roberval are without foundation and the matter is closed.