Debates of March 31st, 2004

The Prime Minister

[Peter MacKay, Progressive Conservative, Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is feeling a little testy today. He has failed miserably to deliver on his previous promises, and yet he is heading full bore into an election.

Full steam ahead for the good ship corruption under this captain. The captain of CSL was active in his own interest, yet the steerage of the ship of state seems to take a back seat.

There is a litany of broken promises under this Prime Minister: no more free votes, no independent ethics counsellor, a widening democratic deficit. Why would Canadians believe a single promise from this Prime Minister today?

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

Order, please. We have to have a little order in the chamber. I do not know how the Prime Minister can hear the question. I cannot. I hope we will have a little order so we can hear the questions and the answers. It is question period, not yelling period.

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, broken promises; let us take a look at the record in the promise in terms of free votes. The fact is on free votes members of the Liberal Party have voted against Liberal motions. The fact is that if we look at the opposition, they have all voted like robots.

What is really ironic is that member dares to stand up in the House and talk about broken promises--

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

Order, please. The hon. member for Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough has the floor.

[Peter MacKay, Progressive Conservative, Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, NS]

Mr. Speaker, it must be springtime. It sounds like there are a lot of bulls in rutting season over there.

The Prime Minister is not going to stand there and lecture me about broken promises, the author of the red book, the man who promised to get rid of the GST, the man who promised--

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

Order, please. The caucus meetings this morning must have been very exciting. Perhaps we could all calm down a little so we can hear the questions and the answers. The Speaker cannot hear. Nobody can hear. The hon. member for Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough has the floor for a question. We will forget the rest of the preamble and go to the question.

[Peter MacKay, Progressive Conservative, Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the captain of CSL seems a bit testy here in the House today about his own record. Talking about broken promises, this is the author of the red book, imagine that.

Canadians have to be asking themselves today: the sultan of Shawinigan or the captain of CSL corruption. I cannot tell the difference. Can you see the difference, Mr. Speaker?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, it is not necessary for me to lecture the hon. member on broken promises. The fact is there is a former Prime Minister of Canada who is relegated off to the corner, whose heart is broken because the great party of Sir John A. Macdonald has had its heart ripped out of it because that hon. member broke his word.

Members do not need my word for it. Ask the Conservative senators in the Senate. Ask the former Prime Minister of Canada why he is sitting over there. He is doing it because that member has no principles.

[Some hon. members]

Sheila, Sheila.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

Order, please. We will now try to hear a question. The hon. member for Laurier—Sainte-Marie

Sponsorship Program

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

Mr. Speaker, on February 18, the Prime Minister stated that he had obtained all the necessary assurances from his ministers about their integrity. Since then, the actions of the President of the Privy Council have been called into question on several occasions. Apparently he was in frequent contact with Pierre Tremblay, the director of the sponsorship program, and interfered in the awarding of a contract to Everest.

Can the Prime Minister tell us whether or not he asked the President of the Privy Council if he exerted pressure in favour of Everest, as was written in black and white in an e-mail dated March 17, 2000?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the President of the Privy Council has already told the House that, when he was the Minister of State responsible for Amateur Sport, he had responsibilities, and he talked about them to Mr. Tremblay.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister probably did not understand the question or does not want to understand it. I asked him a question about an e-mail, which stated, “The company I want is Everest”.

Has he already asked him about this? I would like him to answer, instead of making comments about transparency and talking about the democratic deficit that he embodies to a T.

He should stand up and tell the House whether or not he asked the President of the Privy Council, who continued to defend the sponsorships, if in June 2002, he was involved in this scandal like others, such as the Minister of Health did in the HRDC scandal in the past.

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

Mr. Speaker, did the Leader of the Bloc Quebecois ask the Parti Quebecois government to conduct an investigation into the Oxygène 9 scandal? Not once. Did he ask that government to conduct an investigation into the SGF scandal? Not once. Did he ask that government to conduct an investigation into the LeHir and the Conseil de la souveraineté scandals? Not once. The Bloc is in no position to ask questions about integrity.

[Michel Gauthier, Bloc, Roberval, QC]

Mr. Speaker, money was stolen to this degree in just one parliament in all of Canada: this Parliament here. And here is where the questions are being asked.

Last week, Huguette Tremblay confirmed before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts that the President of Privy Council was the one with the most contact with Mr. Guité, apart from Alfonso Gagliano.

Has the Prime Minister, who is supposed to have investigated his ministers, asked the President of Privy Council what explanation he had for having been identified as the one with the most contact, apart from—

[The Speaker]

The hon. Leader of the Government in the House of Commons.

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

Mr. Speaker, the biggest theft ever has to be Mr. Parizeau's intended use of the $17 billion he had put aside to achieve the sovereignty Quebeckers did not want. In other words, they wanted to take $18,000 out of the pockets of every Quebec family for something Quebeckers did not want. Let them get back to reality in Quebec; they are totally divorced from it.

[Michel Gauthier, Bloc, Roberval, QC]

Mr. Speaker, there is a huge difference between financial planning and theft. That is the problem over there. They cannot tell the difference and they pocket our money. They do so shamelessly.

They have taken money from the taxpayers. They have handled sponsorships improperly. They have interfered. The President of Privy Council intervened to get Everest hired. He interfered in the sponsorship program. The President of the Privy Council ought not to be part of the cabinet.

This is my question for the Prime Minister. If he wants to keep his word, is he going to carry out the necessary investigation of his actions?

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

Mr. Speaker, I wonder how Quebeckers can understand the logic of the Bloc Quebecois members, who claim to want to get to the bottom of this, but refuse to accept the release of Mr. Guité's report. Although Mr. Guité himself wants the report made public, they refuse. They are speaking out of both sides of their mouths. Either they want the truth and let the report be made public, or they do not want the truth, for political reasons, and face the consequences of that.

National Defence

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is embarrassing to see the boys in the sandbox beating each other up over who has the biggest ego, fighting over political shenanigans, and completely neglecting the real issues that concern Canadians.

I would like to bring to the Prime Minister's attention that today leading NGOs released a poll showing that 69% of Canadians do not want Canada to participate in star wars missile defence. Instead, Canadians want Canada to be a leader in the world for peacekeeping, yet the Liberals continue to be completely off track in pursuing missile defence.

After months of talk, is the Prime Minister not aware--

[The Speaker]

The right hon. Prime Minister.