Debates of June 17th, 2002

Aboriginal Children

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Laurentides, QC]

Mr. Speaker, last week a unanimous report on the welfare of aboriginal children aged 0 to six years living on reserves was tabled in the House.

The federal government has repeatedly made commitments with respect to aboriginal peoples, and more particularly their children. The government now has an opportunity to put its money where its mouth is by acting on the committee's unanimous recommendations.

The government must end the lack of co-ordination between existing programs and ensure a comprehensive plan of action for young aboriginal children. The introduction of multi-service community based pilot projects, along the lines of Quebec's CLSC model, will pay off if the government involves aboriginal communities themselves, as Quebec is so successfully doing.

The government has in its hands a tool which cannot fail to work. Now it must prove to aboriginal children and their families that it has the political will by coming up with the necessary funding. Its coffers are certainly full enough.

Health

[Yolande Thibeault, Liberal, Saint-Lambert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure today to mark the second anniversary of a national agency which, in the space of just two years, has revolutionized the way in which Canada directs health research.

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research, created by the government in June 2000, have been given the mandate of excelling in the creation of knowledge and its translation into improved health for Canadians, more effective health services and products and a strengthened Canadian health care system.

Already, these research institutes have organized nation-wide workshops on subjects as varied as the integrity and safety of food and the water supply, bioterrorism, obesity, and genomics.

I have no doubt that with CIHR leading research programs, Canada can take its place among the world's leading nations in research and development.

Aboriginal Affairs

[Inky Mark, Canadian Alliance, Dauphin—Swan River, MB]

Mr. Speaker, at a time when all politicians of the country are perceived in a negative vein, the cry of the day is the call for accountability and ethics.

On the surface Bill C-61 would appear to create a governance model calling for transparency and accountability in leadership, administration and financial management. Aboriginal Canadians want accountability from their elected officials. The minister says the first nations governance act would give aboriginals the tools to improve the quality of life in their own communities.

There is consensus that the 126 year old Indian Act is out of date. Does it need to be changed or does it need to be abolished? That is the question. Should the Liberal government have taken a top down approach to amend the Indian Act or should it have followed an inclusive process to create new legislation outside the act?

G-8 Summit

[Myron Thompson, Canadian Alliance, Wild Rose, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Ottawa business owners are still waiting for compensation seven months after the government hosted the G-20 in Ottawa. Collectively these business owners are owed several million dollars in compensation.

To make matters worse, G-8 summit protesters have now targeted Ottawa for protest next week. Once again local business people are not sure if they will be able to recover potential losses. The government is once again going to leave them high and dry.

It is unfortunate that the seriousness of the situation seems to be lost on one of the local members of parliament. The member for Ottawa Centre was quoted as saying he hopes the mass influx of visitors will boost local sales of food and souvenirs. What the member for Ottawa Centre does not realize is that the main goal of some radical elements is not to bring home souvenirs but to vandalize his city.

Ottawa business owners should not be waiting for lost compensation from last fall. When will the member fight for his own constituents and give them assurances that they will not have to wait for compensation this time around?

Government Contracts

[Pauline Picard, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, with all the allegations of scandal involving the Liberal government, with all the arrogance being shown by the Prime Minister, public confidence in government is at an all time low.

The public has had enough of hearing day after day that this government is spending and wasting to millions of dollars for the benefit of its cronies. The public are no fools, they realize they are the ones having to bear the brunt of the slashes to social program budgets.

The person who keeps boasting about being the man for the job is more the man at the end of the line, and any means of keeping the power in his hands alone is fine with him. In the meantime, no one within his government will admit one iota of responsibility, and everybody just keeps passing the buck.

As we speak, those managing public funds must be accountable. The only way to do so is for there to be a public inquiry. The public has a right to know and the Prime Minister has a duty to fully inform the public.

[Stephen Harper, Canadian Alliance, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, over the weekend we learned that once again the government paid for another missing report from the Liberal friendly firm Groupaction. It looks like the government paid Groupaction another $330,000 in hard earned tax dollars but got little or nothing back.

Could the minister of public works tell Canadians why the government paid yet another $300,000 for a report it never received?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, this particular file actually predates the sponsorship program which began in 1997. It dates from 1996. I have been examining it along with several hundred others in the process of the departmental review that we are undertaking.

As is the case with all the other files, if I discover anything suspicious or untoward in my examination, the proper authorities will be called in to investigate.

[Stephen Harper, Canadian Alliance, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, as the minister says, this did happen five or six years ago. The report was meant to tell the Department of Justice how to sell the firearms registry but no one apparently at the Department of Justice actually asked for this help.

Canadians only learned about this yesterday. Surely the government did not just learn about it yesterday.

Therefore my question is straightforward. When did the government know that this department had not received the $300,000 report or had no copy of it?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, the possibility of some difficulty with this file was drawn to my attention two or three weeks ago. Since that time I have been making the appropriate inquiries to determine exactly what transpired in this case.

Obviously I would be very interested to know the requirements of the Department of Justice and whether or not there was in fact any communication. The Department of Justice says no.

[Stephen Harper, Canadian Alliance, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the minister did not answer my question as to when the government knew. We know he has only been there for two or three weeks.

In this case we have a public works official, Charles Guité, with no authority to pay for a missing $300,000 contract yet he paid anyway. No one is examining how or why the Prime Minister allowed this to go on year after year. No one is examining the link between these contracts and donations to the Liberal Party.

Will the minister stop handling these on a case by case basis and instead do the right thing and call an independent public inquiry now?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the hon. gentleman's concern about these matters. I share that concern. Accordingly, a number of steps have been taken to make sure the whole matter is thoroughly ventilated. Action is being taken by my department with a departmental review. The treasury board is examining the governance system. The auditor general will conduct a government wide audit with respect to advertising and sponsorships. References to the police are made when the circumstances are appropriate for that. We are determining the way to totally revamp the program for the future to avoid the use of commission agents in future programs.

We are trying to deal with this in the right way on all fronts.

The Media

[John Reynolds, Canadian Alliance, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have another matter concerning the government and threats to freedom of the press.

Many Canadians are concerned about the abrupt firing over the weekend of Ottawa Citizen publisher, Russell Mills, one of Canada's leading media executives.

Could the Prime Minister assure the House that neither he nor any other person on his behalf had communications with the Asper family or anyone associated with them concerning articles or editorials in the Ottawa Citizen criticizing the Prime Minister or his government?

[The Speaker]

I must say that I have some reservations about the question because it does not appear to deal with the business of the government but if the Deputy Prime Minister wishes to respond we will go with it.

The hon. member for West Vancouver--Sunshine Coast.

[John Reynolds, Canadian Alliance, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast, BC]

Mr. Speaker, a couple of weeks ago the Deputy Prime Minister made a blistering attack on the media complaining about torqued up headlines and calling for an ethics counsellor for journalists. That is why my question has to do with the government. Maybe Mr. Asper is their new counsellor.

The Prime Minister complained about leaks from the government and asked for names. Now one of Canada's leading newspaper publishers has been fired after his paper destroyed the Prime Minister's defence on Shawinigate and called for his resignation.

Why will the government not give us a clear answer? Did the government call the Asper family and ask for the--

[The Speaker]

The question is out of order.

The hon. member for Laurier--Sainte-Marie.

Government Contracts

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in 1998, in violation of Treasury Board guidelines, Média IDA Vision was awarded the contract to oversee all sponsorship contracts. The Groupe Everest subsidiary also pocketed a 3% commission, even when if failed to do its work.

Given that there are reports by Groupaction and Communications Coffin that do not exist and given that the Salon du grand air de Québec never took place, but commissions were paid nonetheless, will the public works minister tell us if Média IDA Vision respected its contract, as its president, Claude Boulay, says?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, I have nothing on the record before me at the moment that would indicate the contrary. What this would appear to be with respect to the interest charges is a bad business practice that was identified in the audit that was conducted internally by my department. Recommendations were made for correcting that business practice and the correction was in fact made about a year ago.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, they oversaw work that did not exist and they were paid for it. The minister still does not get it. I guess Média IDA Vision will have to write a report on the minister.

The August 2000 report was quite clear: the Média IDA Vision process did not respect, and I quote, “the spirit or the letter of Treasury Board rules and directives”. The audit specifies that the Everest subsidiary used, as it saw fit, interest generated from public money that it was holding, a violation of the contract and something Claude Boulay does not deny for the period from April 1, 1998 to June 28, 2001.

Given that the Prime Minister knew about this since—

[The Speaker]

The hon. Minister of Public Works and Government Services.

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, I did not hear the last part of the hon. gentleman's question but I would point out that the problem with respect to the interest collected on certain accounts was identified in the internal audit that was conducted by that section of my department.

The auditors recommended certain specific actions that needed to be taken to correct that, including the establishment of separate accounts, and a holding period of not more than five days. About a year ago now, June of last year, those corrections were in fact made.

[Michel Gauthier, Bloc, Roberval, QC]

Mr. Speaker, following the emergency meeting held in September 2000 to evaluate the sponsorship program, the President of the Treasury Board knew that certain contracts had not been properly completed, even though the firms involved had been paid. She also knew that the government was keeping Media IDA Vision in place to monitor this program, even though the work was not done properly.

Why did the President of the Treasury Board not tell the Prime Minister that Media IDA Vision was not doing a proper job, consistent with treasury board rules?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, the treasury board requires all departments to have internal audit sections. The internal auditors within public works are regarded, by no less authority than the Auditor General of Canada, as a very excellent internal audit section. They are the ones who discovered this bad business practice with respect to the interest. They are the ones who recommended the corrections and I am pleased to say that the corrections were made a year ago.

[Michel Gauthier, Bloc, Roberval, QC]

Mr. Speaker, how could the President of the Treasury Board be so remiss in her duties as comptroller of government spending? She was the one in charge of overseeing how taxpayers money was spent. Why did she keep quiet? Why did she not say that there was something wrong? Why did she instead defend the firms involved by saying that all the rules had been complied with? Why?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, the President of the Treasury Board ensures that every department of government has an appropriately strong internal audit function. My department has that function. The auditor general has said that those people who perform that function within Public Works Canada are in fact excellent and courageous. It was these people who discovered this bad business practice and as a result of their recommendations the business practice was corrected. Therefore the requirements of the treasury board were ultimately adhered to.

The Media

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the day after being awarded an honourary degree from Carleton University, Ottawa Citizen editor Russell Mills was fired. Mr. Mills dared to criticize the Prime Minister one time too many.

In the past five years, by the way, Ottawa Citizen owners, the Aspers, gave more than $250,000 to the Liberal Party of Canada.

What does the government intend to do to protect freedom of the press and diversity of voices in this country?