Debates of June 6th, 2002

Government Contracts

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

Mr. Speaker, I obviously do not accept the preamble to the question. When I say that I expect my department to perform in a certain way, I fully expect it will comply with the minister's wishes.

[Grant Hill, Canadian Alliance, Macleod, AB]

Mr. Speaker, very interesting indeed, “I expect it will comply”. Has the minister changed his mind since last night at midnight? He was defending this program yesterday. Is this not another reason for a full blown public inquiry?

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

Mr. Speaker, there has been no change in position. What I said to the Leader of the Opposition a week ago Monday was that I had the issue of advertising questions under review and that I would report to him and to the House as soon as I had an opportunity to finalize my conclusions.

That work is ongoing, but I have been able to take some conclusions in the meantime. Those conclusions have indeed been reported to the House as promised.

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

Mr. Speaker, in order to ensure that this year's $750,000 sponsorship of the Canadian Grand Prix provided all of the visibility the federal government desired, Media IDA Vision received $22,500. This is what Grand Prix president Normand Legault confirmed yesterday, when he said “it is never the federal government that issues the cheques, it is an agency, but beforehand, we deal with public servants”.

Given that the Grand Prix does business directly with public servants, can the Minister of Public Works and Government Services tell us why Armada made a $90,000 commission in 2002-2003?

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

Mr. Speaker, with respect to applications in process under the sponsorship program for the current year, as colleagues in the House will know that is subject to the freeze that I announced a week ago Monday.

I am in the process of examining all the applications that have come in. I have asked my officials to identify those cases in which the projects might well be able to proceed without the benefit of external agencies.

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

Mr. Speaker, in an interview with Paul Arcand of CKAC, when the president of the Grand Prix, Normand Legault, was asked “Are you required to do favours for public servants?”, he answered “the agencies probably do this sort of work”.

In the case of the Montreal Grand Prix, can the Minister of Public Works and Government Services tell us if favours have been received by any public servant this year from Armada or Media IDA Vision, a subsidiary of Groupe Everest?

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

Mr. Speaker, what the hon. gentleman appears to be alleging would sound to me like a criminal offence. As the House knows, any matter of that kind would in fact be referred to the police for the appropriate investigation and, if necessary, prosecution.

If the hon. gentleman has information that might be evidence of any kind of offence, I hope he will draw it to the attention of the RCMP.

[Ghislain Lebel, Bloc, Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, despite the fact that Mr. Legault, of the Montreal Grand Prix, remembers negotiating directly with the government, without any middleman, the Montreal Grand Prix event generated commissions of $108,000 in 1998; $52,000 in 1999; $45,000 in 2000; $60,000 in 2001; and $90,000 in 2002.

Does he not find $355,000 in commissions paid to middlemen who did nothing for an organization that negotiates directly with the government a bit steep?

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

Mr. Speaker, I already indicated to the House on several occasions that I am actively looking at the possibility of eliminating the agency relationships altogether and proceeding in future years on the basis of direct government administration.

In the course of this year, which as the hon. gentleman knows is part way through, I am examining those files that might in fact be able to proceed in the short term without benefit of agency participation.

[Ghislain Lebel, Bloc, Chambly, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister has been giving this answer for days now. At some point, he will have to make a decision.

Given the number of cases that we have raised, and considering the unjustifiable commissions the federal government has paid out—particularly in the Montreal Grand Prix case, an organization which, I remind the minister, deals directly with the government—will the minister of public works not admit that a public inquiry is needed to get to the bottom of all of these scandals?

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

Mr. Speaker, this entire area is being thoroughly examined, obviously on a daily basis here in the House of Commons, also by a committee of the House, by officials at treasury board, by officials in my department as well as by the auditor general and by police authorities where that is required.

The Environment

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, today is Clean Air Day yet the government is suffocating in a smog of backstabbing and infighting. It backpedalled on Kyoto. It is now sitting on a report showing it could reduce fossil fuel consumption and save the family farm.

Mandating ethanol as a fuel additive could reduce vehicle emissions by 30% and increase farm commodity prices at the same time: 45% for corn and 66% for vegetable oils.

Why does the Prime Minister not get rid of the stench permeating his government and start by legislating mandatory blend of ethanol gasoline in Canada? It would be good for the environment and good for farmers.

[Herb Dhaliwal, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, I welcome the views of the hon. leader of the NDP. We are looking at opportunities of a mandatory ethanol blend. It is something that we are exploring at this time. It would help to reduce pollution and deal with greenhouse gas emissions.

However I want to ensure we have consultations with all provinces and industry, which I have been doing, to ensure we do our homework on something that is an important area that we should consider.

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, considering opportunities for possible future action is not exactly taking action. The government is learning the hard way it cannot buy good public relations. In politics it has to be earned through ethical conduct, bold policies and sound judgment.

The government must stop funding reports that go nowhere. Why will the Prime Minister require that Canadians have access to the cleanest fuel on the market? That means mandating that there be ethanol in the gas that is available for consumption.

[Herb Dhaliwal, Liberal, Minister of Natural Resources]

Mr. Speaker, I have indicated to the press and members in the House that this is something we are looking at seriously but we want to ensure that we have consultations with the provinces and industry.

On renewable resources, we just announced $260 million on wind energy, and we are looking at a variety of other projects. We are doing our part. In fact we are investing hundreds of millions of dollars to ensure that we take a lead role on climate change as well as on the environment.

Auditor General

[Joe Clark, Progressive Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Public Works and Government Services yesterday deliberately gave the House a careful half answer in saying that the auditor general has the authority of a public inquiry.

The full story is that her authority does not apply to arm's length foundations or to several crown corporations. The auditor general wants her authority extended to penetrate those black holes where there is now no accountability for advertising or other activities.

Will the government extend those powers to the auditor general, and if not, will it name an independent public inquiry immediately with the clear power to look into all of these black holes?

[Lucienne Robillard, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, we have approved a new policy on alternative service delivery arrangements, which requires departments to carry out an impact study and ensure that the public interest is being served.

That said, when a new structure is being created, effort must be made to ensure that proper measures are in place for reporting to the House, to parliament and to the public in general. This we do in all cases, and we improve public reporting.

G-8 Summit

[Joe Clark, Progressive Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I have another question about hidden costs.

The RCMP warned the Prime Minister not to hold the G-8 summit in Ottawa. The prospect of protest was too dangerous. The Prime Minister moved the summit to two sites in Alberta: Calgary and Kananaskis. Now protestors and other activists are bringing the protest to Ottawa anyway. They have already scared the Canada Day celebrations off Parliament Hill.

The Prime Minister is running a three ring summit. The costs and the security risks will be much higher than normal.

I have three questions. Can the government guarantee the security of all three sites? Is there an overall budget? Will the government table that--

[The Deputy Speaker]

The hon. solicitor general.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Solicitor General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I can assure my hon. colleague that we have the appropriate police forces and security intelligence agencies to make sure that we have the proper security in this country to take care of our citizens in Kananaskis and in Ottawa.

Government Contracts

[Gerry Ritz, Canadian Alliance, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the minister of public works claims that he decided to keep the money flowing to the Liberal bagmen at Groupaction because of natural justice. He is a prairie boy and he knows that is natural hogwash.

It is indefensible that the minister uses a lawyer's dodge to justify this overpriced photocopying. When will he stop all business dealings with Groupaction, all of them?

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

Mr. Speaker, with respect to the photocopying issue that the hon. gentleman refers to, that of course is already the subject of a police inquiry. As a result of that, the former minister of public works and government services already took the step of terminating sponsorship activity with respect to Groupaction.

With respect to other business, as I mentioned earlier in the House today I am pursuing additional initiatives to deal with that, as I promised to do.

[Gerry Ritz, Canadian Alliance, Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the Groupaction file is just the tip of the iceberg. There are a lot more lining up and we know they are all bad.

The minister claims he is going to be transparent and accountable in his new role. He has become so transparent we can see right through him. It is a different face but the same old game.

How does the minister think that justice will be served when the very people who signed off on all of these bogus contracts are the ones now doing the review?

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

Mr. Speaker, the review is being conducted by the internal audit division of my department, which the auditor general has described as excellent and courageous. It is being done by the auditor general herself. It is being done by treasury board. It is being done by the new officials who have been in my department over the course of the last year. The hon. gentleman's allegation is flatly wrong.

[Michel Gauthier, Bloc, Roberval, QC]

Mr. Speaker, once again this morning, the minister of public works told us that dubious cases relating to sponsorships will be investigated by the RCMP. I am very anxious to hear his response to the case I am about to raise.

How can the minister and the government explain their need to give a 12% commission to Gosselin Communications for a $1,168,000 sponsorship connected, not just to anyone, but to its police, the RCMP, in connection with its 125th anniversary?