Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise in the inadequate time that I have been given to address this very important issue. I offer my support and congratulations to the member for raising the issue in the House. I would also like to pay some deserved tribute to the mayor of St. John's for his continued efforts on behalf of the constituents that he shares with the member.
This is an issue which has been treated in an excessively partisan way by the government opposite in that during the federal election campaign it made eminently clear to the people of St. John's when the industry minister travelled there that the project was one he supported. That was borne out by the fact that as premier of Newfoundland he supported the project himself.
During the federal election he went further than that and encouraged the people of St. John's to vote for the Liberal candidates, arguing that would give him allies and encourage him in his ability to generate funding support for the project. That is where we step over the line. That is when we make partisanship blatant. When we do that we remove any credibility to argue that fairness is the basis upon which funds are allocated for projects such as this one.
This does not need to be a partisan issue. This is an issue of a dirty harbour that needs to be cleaned up. I know the member opposite would agree that is the issue we should be talking about.
I raised a simple question in the House with the environment minister in question period. I asked him why he would tell the mayor of St. John's that there were no funds available from his department and subsequent to that announce that funds were available for a project in his own riding.
I thought it was a very fair and reasonable question. An opportunity was provided for him to respond. All he did was launch into personal attacks about me. That was not fruitful. It did not lend any credibility to the government's rationale for its criteria and priorities on issues such as this one.
Opportunity was provided today for both ministers to rise in their places to participate in the debates by saying what are their priorities and how they determine the criteria for allocating funds to these kinds of projects. Rather they give the mayor of St. John's the runaround and waste his valuable time. As hard as he wants to work for the people of St. John's he would like to have a partner in the federal government. I can understand that.
There is only one taxpayer out there. We have heard many times that one taxpayer pays provincial tax, municipal tax and federal tax. One taxpayer expects to get services from government. It is a shame when government seems to insist on being partisan to an excessive degree and interfering with the basic co-operative approaches that should be taken on infrastructure projects such as this one.
That is what we are seeing with this project. We are seeing a willingness to put partisan self-interest ahead of fairness. It is clearly evident. The Liberal candidate in St. John's East was asked on the night of the election whether St. John's would be punished by its refusal to send Liberals to the House of Commons. His answer was that it had nothing to do with punishment but with reality.
If that is the reality of government members opposite, they should stand and be honest about it. If this is about partisanship and rewarding ridings that vote Liberal, the government should say so. It seems clearly evident that is the case. That is most unfortunate, because the project is deserving of support. I stand in support of the member and encourage the government to take action on this resolution so it can go forward.