Debates of Oct. 13th, 2004

Sponsorship Program

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has been clear that he was aware of the sponsorship program. All members of Parliament were aware of the sponsorship program. When he became aware as a result of the Auditor General's report of alleged malfeasance, he acted immediately to cancel that program and to start the judicial inquiry that will lead us to the truth.

I would urge the hon. member not to prejudge the work of Justice Gomery. Allow him to do his work and to get to the bottom of this issue.

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Charlevoix—Montmorency, QC]

Mr. Speaker, during the last election campaign, the Prime Minister did the rounds of TV studios, in a state of indignation, to say that he knew nothing about the sponsorship program and how angry the whole thing was making him.

How could he not know and at the same time be so efficient that, with a single telephone call, in his capacity as the Minister of Finance and vice-chair of the Treasury Board, he was able to reverse an unfavourable decision and secure not only a $250,000 sponsorship for his friends André Ouellet and Serge Savard, but also a generous contribution to Groupe Everest?

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, it would be very important not to prejudge the work being done by Justice Gomery. We must wait for his report. I am looking forward to the report and its findings.

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Charlevoix—Montmorency, QC]

Mr. Speaker, on the one hand, we have the Prime Minister, who is going around in high dudgeon, and, on the other hand, Justice Gomery, who is not scheduled to release his report until December 2005. Is all this not starting to look a lot like Jean Chrétien's attitude about the Business Development Bank in the Auberge Grand-Mère issue?

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, I cannot understand why the opposition that demanded a judicial inquiry is now actually questioning the independence of a judicial inquiry. We ought to allow Justice Gomery to do his work and not prejudge his work or interfere or in fact comment on the day to day testimony when that testimony will vary throughout the entire inquiry.

Child Care

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in June, when the Liberals announced that they would commit $5 billion over a five-year period to create a Canada-wide child care network, the Prime Minister said that Quebec would receive its share of this $5 billion without having to be accountable to the federal government. However, yesterday, the Minister of Social Development said the opposite.

Who is telling the truth? Is it the Prime Minister, who, in the spring, said that Quebec would continue to have full jurisdiction over its child care centres, or is it the Minister of Social Development, who alluded yesterday to the implementation of Canada-wide standards for all the provinces, including Quebec?

[Ken Dryden, Liberal, Minister of Social Development]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday I talked about the national child care program and the work that we are doing with all the provinces and territories. In the work that we are doing now and in the work that we will continue to do, we will be respectful of each other's jurisdictions.

[Christiane Gagnon, Bloc, Québec, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is very simple. Will the minister correct the statement he made yesterday and clearly say that Quebec will have the right to opt out, unconditionally and with full compensation, from the future Canada-wide child care program? That is the question.

[Ken Dryden, Liberal, Minister of Social Development]

Mr. Speaker, what I said yesterday was not what was said. As I said just a moment ago, in the work that we are doing and the work we will continue to do, we will respect each other's jurisdictions.

Sponsorship Program

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Gomery commission once again linked the Prime Minister to the sponsorship scandal. His office intervened to help his friends get up to $250,000. However, this did not prevent the Prime Minister, later on, from pretending to be outraged and suggesting that everyone condemn such practices.

When will the Prime Minister admit to the commission that these millions were used for partisan purposes?

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, it is very important to respect the independence of Mr. Justice Gomery. We should not prejudge his work. I am anxious to read his report, but we must wait for it.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister does not need to wait for the commission to go further before he reveals what he already knows. When he was mad as hell, he called on anyone with information to “come forward and not wait to be compelled to do so”.

Yesterday the Gomery commission learned that the Prime Minister's office was fully involved in the sponsorship program. He knew what happened. Why will he not turn himself in to the Gomery commission without a subpoena and tell Canadians what he did with the missing millions?

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, not only has the Prime Minister called a full judicial inquiry on this issue, we have actually made available cabinet documents back to 1994, which is almost unprecedented in terms of openness and transparency. Beyond that, the government has provided over 10 million pages of documents to Justice Gomery.

The government is committed to getting to the truth. I do not know what the hon. member or that party has against getting to the bottom of this issue.

[John Williams, Conservative, Edmonton—St. Albert, AB]

Mr. Speaker, last spring the public accounts committee demanded all documents related to the sponsorship scandal, but we only received a few thousand pages. Now the minister is telling us how he has delivered 10 million pages to the Gomery commission.

My question for the Minister of Public Works is, why is he treating the committee of Parliament with contempt when it comes to the sponsorship scandal?

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted that the hon. member has brought to the attention of the House the extraordinary commitment to transparency that the government has demonstrated by providing thousands and in fact millions of pages of documents to both committees.

We responded to requests from the public accounts committee and to the requests from the Gomery commission. Based on the questions asked, we provided the documents requested. That is what we are doing. We are cooperating with both the public accounts committee and the Gomery commission to get to the truth. We are committed to getting to the truth in the government.

[John Williams, Conservative, Edmonton—St. Albert, AB]

Mr. Speaker, there is no transparency when he keeps the documents back from the public accounts committee. Yesterday Joanne Bouvier indicated just how familiar the Prime Minister is and has been with the Liberal slush funds.

Days before the election, the Liberals on the committee prevented Joanne Bouvier from coming to the public accounts committee and appearing as a witness.

Why did the Prime Minister instruct his Liberal MPs at the committee to prevent a key witness from coming forward to tell the whole truth about the sponsorship scandal days before the election?

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, further to the hon. member's question about openness, transparency and information being provided by the Government of Canada, the information commissioner recently lauded the Prime Minister for his early moves in the government to boost transparency. He said that the Prime Minister has confronted head on this whole issue of secrecy in governments across the country. Further, he has said that the government will be sufficiently self-confident, courageous and honest to beat the secrecy addiction to which other governments fall victim.

That is what the information commissioner is saying about the Prime Minister's commitment to openness, honesty and transparency.

Ukraine

[Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Ukrainian officials recently summoned Canada's ambassador to Ukraine for publicly raising alarms about the possibility of an undemocratic election in the country's upcoming presidential election. As well, there has been an attempt, by poisoning, on the life of the frontrunner, Mr. Victor Yushchenko.

What is Canada doing to make it clear to Ukrainian authorities that a genuinely democratic political system is a prerequisite for the country's full integration into the western community of nations?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, on September 21 our ambassador in Kiev declared publicly Canada's serious concern that the elections may fail to meet democratic standards.

The Government of Canada is sending about 40 observers, one of the largest contingents ever to observe the election. Our embassy is also leading an informal group of 25 diplomatic missions working together in Ukraine to monitor electoral developments.

Canada is actively engaged in efforts to encourage a free and fair election in Ukraine.

National Defence

[Bill Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence, who was asked a question by his former House leader about a report on the subs that existed prior to the purchase. The question was whether or not the government was aware of that report and whether or not it had presumably read it.

The parliamentary secretary remembers when he was in the opposition the frustration he experienced at not getting answers to his questions. Will he either answer the question or tell us if he was made to drink some kind of potion before becoming a Liberal which certainly disabled him from recognizing a question and knowing how to answer it?

[Keith Martin, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, if there was a potion, I would be happy to share it with the hon. member.

The real issue with the subs and what everybody in the House wants is to get to the bottom of the tragedy of what happened on the Chicoutimi . We are letting the navy do its job. The board of inquiry is doing its job right now. It is in Faslane. It is going through the Chicoutimi from top to bottom and will come out with the answers in the very near future.

Noranda Inc.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, some members' potions are another's poison.

Many Canadians are concerned about the sale of Noranda Inc. to a foreign government that has human rights abuses and environmental and labour practices which are susceptible to all kinds of conditions that are not favourable to Canadian competitors. There are significant employment sovereignty issues with this particular case.

Parliamentary business has finally resumed and committees are meeting. Will the Minister of Industry commit to the House and the Canadian public that he will review or delay the sale of Noranda Inc. until the industry committee has had a chance to study this and also the current Investment Canada process?

[David Emerson, Liberal, Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, no, I will not make that commitment. The government has an unassailable record of human rights. We will defend it against anyone.

The Investment Canada Act requires that we review foreign acquisitions of Canadian companies according to whether it creates net benefits for Canada. We will do that.

Canadian Heritage

[Bev Oda, Conservative, Clarington—Scugog—Uxbridge, ON]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the heritage minister said that her predecessor attended the Banff festival in her role as the minister. Her speech was an 800 word scaremongering attack, including direct quotes from the Conservative Party policy statement. This is not the role of a minister.

When will the government pay back the taxpayers for the $50,000 spent on that election speech?

[Liza Frulla, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Minister responsible for Status of Women]

Mr. Speaker, I will repeat what I said yesterday, but I will say it in French for the purpose of variety.

The minister attended the Banff festival, delivered a ministerial speech and simply came back to Quebec City to carry on with her campaign.