Debates of Feb. 26th, 2004

Taxation

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, to the best of my knowledge I have no buddies in that category, but I would assure the honourable gentleman that the issue he raises is one of serious concern to me and that I have the issue under active consideration, both in the nature of the problem and in the proper way to deal with the problem so that unfair tax advantages are not in fact provided.

Government Contracts

[Greg Thompson, Progressive Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Mr. Speaker, the new political boss of Ontario is none other than the HRDC minister. Unfortunately, he is already exercising his new role at the expense of the openness, transparency and integrity as promised by the Prime Minister. The minister now routinely determines who receives government legal contracts and who does not.

Is this not just another example of the culture of Liberal corruption creeping into the hiring practices of the government?

[Irwin Cotler, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, as Minister of Justice I have authority with respect to the selection and appointment of legal agents. Shortly after my appointment, I asked for a review of the process so that it comports with principles of transparency and accountability and so that those chosen have the qualifications of professionalism, merit and competence, and that is what we are doing.

[Greg Thompson, Progressive Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Mr. Speaker, I would love the minister responsible, the political boss, to get up and justify why he would circulate a memo to 40 of his Liberal colleagues requesting names that might be approved. If they are not approved politically, maybe we could come up with some more names as long as they are Liberal. Why would the HRDC minister circulate that memo? Why would he do that to 40 of his colleagues if he was not looking for the politically correct names?

[Irwin Cotler, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, the decision was mine as Minister of Justice. I took the advice of my officials who made recommendations and those recommendations were followed.

Foreign Affairs

[Deepak Obhrai, Canadian Alliance, Calgary East, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the sponsorship scandal has established without doubt that this Liberal government is now tainted with a culture of corruption.

Next week the Prime Minister is planning to visit Secretary General Kofi Annan at the United Nations Headquarters. Canada has refused to sign the UN convention against corruption, which was adopted on October 31, 2003, at the United Nations General Assembly. Why is Canada refusing to sign this convention? Why?

[Bill Graham, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, Canada is not refusing to sign the convention. Canada has been a leader in trying to eliminate global corruption around the world.

Every convention raises complicated domestic legal issues as well as international legal issues. We will continue to pursue this, as the Prime Minister did when we were in Monterrey, to bring the American states together around anti-corruption. We work with members of the opposition and parliamentarians who are against corruption. We are extremely active on this file.

We welcome the member's question because we want to pursue this. This side of the House is determined to eradicate corruption around the world.

[Deepak Obhrai, Canadian Alliance, Calgary East, AB]

Mr. Speaker, let me tell the minister that he has not signed this convention and that, according to Transparency International, Canada has been slipping in terms of its perceptions of the degree of corruption as seen by business people, academics and risk analysts.

The first step toward restoring confidence would be for the political players to accept responsibility for the sponsorship scandal. Where is this accountability? Why is no one owning up to responsibility on the front bench?

[Bill Graham, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I admitted that we had not yet signed that convention, but we are examining it. The Minister of Justice and I consider all avenues open for ways in which we can fight corruption.

I invite the hon. member to join GOPAC, which is a parliamentary committee of members of the House, started by a member of his own party, and which was designed to work with governments around the world to eliminate corruption.

We are taking measures in the Americas. We are taking measures in Africa. We are taking measures in Asia. We take measures globally. We will examine that convention. We will work on it. When the legal problems around it are resolved, we will of course adhere to it.

Sponsorship Program

[Odina Desrochers, Bloc, Lotbinière—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Deputy Prime Minister has told us that the ministers will be able to answer questions before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts.

Since the Minister of Labour will be able to answer questions before the committee, why not clarify things right away and tell us whether she was the one who defended the sponsorship companies?

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said before, no minister on this side of the House has any concern about appearing before either the public accounts committee or the public inquiry committee if called upon to do so.

Therefore I encourage hon. members of the public accounts committee. If they have questions for myself or for other colleagues, they have a means by which they can ask us to come forward and share what we know with them and the Canadian public.

[Odina Desrochers, Bloc, Lotbinière—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we know why they refuse to answer here and are putting everything off until they appear before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts. It is because they are hoping this will not happen until after the election.

I am asking the President of the Privy Council to take his responsibilities now, and not wait until after the election, and tell us whether he was the one who defended the sponsorship companies.

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, I want to be very clear about something. That hon. member talks about taking responsibility. This government has taken responsibility for this sponsorship situation.

As of December 12, we cancelled the program. Within minutes of the Auditor General's release of her report, this government announced a package of measures unprecedented in terms of a response and in terms of finding out what happened and trying to make sure it never happens again. This government has taken responsibility.

Agriculture

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

Mr. Speaker, what is really scandalous is the 10 months that have sneaked by when we were waiting for the Liberal government to recognize the evidence of the increasing hurt faced by our livestock producers. Like any business, farmers need market certainty and cash flow to survive. Any farm group would have told the minister that yesterday.

Why does it continue to be so impossible for the government to design a plan that works for our producers? Get it done.

[Bob Speller, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, in fact we have responded. We responded with a $520 million program on BSE. We responded with a $200 million program on cull cow. We also responded with a $600 million transition program to help transition from the old programs to the new program.

We are working very closely with the Canadian Cattlemen's Association, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture and our provincial colleagues to address some of these concerns.

I invite the hon. member to sit down with the cattlemen. Maybe they would tell him about the approach--

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Battlefords--Lloydminster.

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

Mr. Speaker, all those farm groups are telling the minister to get off his duff and get it done. We need cash flow today.

All these big programs that the government talked about, the dollars never went to where they were intended. They did not get there.

CFIP paid out 70%. That is the government's answer to the solution.

Why are families who produce our safe quality food never a priority for the Liberal government?

[Bob Speller, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, they are a priority for the government. The Government of Canada, my cabinet colleagues and indeed the Prime Minister recognize the situation of farmers and farm families across the country. That is why the Prime Minister has taken such a large lead in terms of dealing with the BSE situation.

I can assure all hon. members and indeed farmers and farm families across the country that the Government of Canada does take this issue very seriously. We are working very hard in terms of opening up the border. We are working very hard with our provincial colleagues, along with the farm groups in order to make sure that the money that is--

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Thornhill.

Middle East

[Elinor Caplan, Liberal, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs. It is about the events taking place in The Hague.

The Palestinian authority is currently challenging the legality of Israel's security fence in the International Court. Israel does not recognize the jurisdiction of the International Court to rule on matters of its internal security.

Many constituents and individuals would like to know, what is Canada's position regarding these proceedings?

[Bill Graham, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for her question. I would like to thank her for her interest in the security of Israel and in attempts to find a fair and just solution to the terrible problems that we face in the Middle East.

Canada has made its vote known in the United Nations with respect to the security fence. It is clear that Israel must take actions to protect itself and its citizens. However we have serious reservations about the placing of the fence, where it is going, and we have raised those with Israel and internationally.

That said, we strongly believe that this matter can only be resolved by negotiation between the parties as authorized by the Security Council. We encourage the parties to do that. We do not believe that legal proceedings are correct at this time. We have raised those convictions in our submissions.

Sponsorship Program

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

Mr. Speaker, the use of tax dollars from the sponsorship scandal as a Liberal slush fund raises concerns about the integrity of the government.

We have information that one or more officials, past or present, of the Liberal Party of Canada in Quebec were involved in the creation of, or were aware of, certain private trust accounts into which some of that money was deposited.

Has the Prime Minister frozen these accounts pending all investigations of this scandal?

[Reg Alcock, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board and Minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board]

Once again, Mr. Speaker, we have what I believe is third hand hearsay. If the member has a fact to put on the table before the inquiry, please do so. Put it down there.

The Prime Minister has said over and over again that the judge will go wherever he needs to go to get to the bottom of this and see that the people who are responsible are dealt with.

If the member has a fact, he should put it on the table.

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

Mr. Speaker, in fact I did put it on the table. I turned it over to the chairman of the public accounts committee two days ago in a brown envelope, so they have it in that committee.

We have further information that certain federal Liberal Party officials are involved in some sort of negotiation or arbitration concerning the tax dollars sitting in these accounts.

I ask the question again. Has the Prime Minister ordered Liberal Party officials to assist in the investigation by coming forward now with any information they have on these trust accounts and this scandal?

[Jacques Saada, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister responsible for Democratic Reform]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Party of Canada has done everything according to the law.

Anything the member has to put forward in this regard should be put forward before the proper authority which has been set in place to deal with the matter. The rest is pure speculation and I refuse to answer speculation.