Mr. Speaker, on March 12 I raised the issue in the House of the ongoing scandals involving the Liberal government, scandals which include allegations of conflict of interest, patronage and kickback schemes. I will highlight three examples. First, a fellow by the name of Pierre Corbeil was convicted of running a kickback scheme for people who sought grant money from the Liberal government. Upon his conviction it was revealed that there was an organized influence peddling operation inside the Liberal Party.
Second, a Quebec based advertising firm called Groupaction Marketing Inc. received $60 million in contracts from the Liberal government and kicked back $100,000 in donations to the Liberal Party.
Third, the former minister of public works was embroiled in allegations of improper political interference, conflict of interest and breaches of the code of ethics. He was removed from cabinet but given an appointment as ambassador to Denmark.
The question I asked in March was to the current minister of public works. When he was in opposition he was the public works critic. At the time he was fervent in his position that allegations of conflict of interest should be investigated. I asked him why it was a good idea to investigate corruption then, but now that he is the minister he is refusing to do so. The minister did not answer the question. That is why I am here. I am hoping to get an answer tonight.
I will put the issue in context. On May 1, 1986 when the current minister of public works was in opposition he asked the then deputy prime minister about one of the deputy prime minister's colleagues who was in a conflict of interest position. He asked how he could ignore the conflict of interest guidelines and tolerate such interference. It makes one wonder. If it was not appropriate to tolerate political interference by a cabinet minister when he was in opposition why would he tolerate political interference from his predecessor, former minister of public works Alfonso Gagliano?
On September 27, 1988 the current minister of public works said allegations of conflict of interest and breaches of the code of ethics should be referred to a parliamentary committee for investigation. The same suggestion has been made to him in the current environment with all these scandals going on. However the minister has refused to conduct a parliamentary investigation into the granting of contracts and allegations of conflict of interest and kickback schemes.
On another occasion when he was the public works critic the current minister of public works asked the government to dismiss from a cabinet a minister who was in a conflict of interest. He specifically stated that the punishment should be dismissal from cabinet. I am taking that directly from Hansard .
I will restate the question I asked in March. When he was in opposition the current minister of public works wanted to investigate corruption through parliamentary committees and dismiss ministers from cabinet who were in conflict of interest and in breach of the code of ethics. If it was a good idea when he was in opposition why is the current minister of public works now refusing to act on these things?