Debates of Nov. 2nd, 2005

Sponsorship Program

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is time for leadership on this issue. We want a response from the Prime Minister, not from the public works minister or the latter day fair-weather Canadian in the transport minister. We want the Prime Minister to get on his feet and to answer this question.

Perhaps I will get an answer if I ask it in French.

When will the Prime Minister order the Solicitor General to institute proceedings against the Liberal Party and its riding associations in order to recover the balance owing?

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

Mr. Speaker, 28 million pages of documents, 172 witnesses, 136 days of hearings; Mr. Justice Gomery has actually detailed the answers to all the member's questions right here in this book. If the member would look at the section on the Liberal Party, Justice Gomery does have some things to say. He says the reforms to the party management systems make it less likely that this will occur. He identifies the individuals that were involved, very clearly, and each one of them has been charged.

Canada Post

[Brian Pallister, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Mr. Speaker, it is all talk. Post-Gomery word spin from the PMO describes the Prime Minister as Mr. Clean, but let us take a look at his actions.

When it comes to Liberal pork master general André Ouellet, for example, he has done nothing. All cover-up, no cleanup. One year ago, the Prime Minister promised Canadians that he would get to the bottom of the André Ouellet scandal at Canada Post. We are waiting.

In his report, Judge Gomery highlighted Ouellet as “favouring his friends over the interests of the corporation”. How truly Liberal.

When will the Prime Minister stop favouring his friends over the interests of Canada and Canadians?

[John McCallum, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, the Deloitte & Touche report was followed by very extensive instructions and recommendations. Canada Post has followed those to the letter and reported regularly to me that all those matters have indeed been implemented.

In addition, I am informed by Canada Post that the results of the audit will be forthcoming relatively soon. Indeed, Canada Post as well as the Canada Revenue Agency are addressing these matters.

[Brian Pallister, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Mr. Speaker, André Ouellet awarded contracts to Liberal friendly firms. He hired dozens of Liberal friends and family. He spent $2 million in lavish expenses, without providing receipts over a year ago. What Canadian gets that deal?

What is the Prime Minister doing about it? He is doing nothing about it, except appointing more Liberal cronies to the Senate, inventing reasons to pay David Dingwall some severance and protecting Ouellet. This is his mess.

Mr. Clean over there likes to fire up the vacuum when he is cleaning up Jean Chrétien's house, but the fact of the matter is Canadians are expecting him to clean up his own house now. When will he get to it?

[John McCallum, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member's behaviour seems to grow more bizarre by the day. Only yesterday he released a press release in which he described me as having a Freudian desire. Some may question what goes through his mind in coming up with such a proposition, but I would quote from his mentor, Sigmund Freud, who said, “Being entirely honest with oneself is a good exercise”.

Sponsorship Program

[Benoît Sauvageau, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the government is refusing to say whether what Jean Chrétien said yesterday was true about the ministers of the Treasury Board responsible for the administration of the sponsorship money assuring him that the rules were followed. The former President of the Treasury Board is shaking her head no.

Can she tell us outright whether in her opinion Jean Chrétien was lying yesterday or not?

[Jean Lapierre, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I know that the Bloc Québécois members are having a hard time accepting Justice Gomery's findings. They would like to start the inquiry all over again, but it is too late. It is all over. They had the opportunity to be heard, their lawyers were there, everyone was there. The judge was conscientious in carrying out his work. They had best not try to do the judge's work on the floor of this House. The work has been completed, the report has been submitted and it states that the Prime Minister, all the Quebec ministers, and all the current Quebec MPs are exonerated. The Bloc Québécois does not want to accept that.

[Benoît Sauvageau, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Mr. Speaker, there is a serious problem. The ministers assured us dozens of times, here, from their seats, that the Treasury Board rules were followed to the letter in the sponsorship program. Yesterday, Jean Chrétien said that his ministers had assured him of this personally on a number of occasions.

Based on that statement, how can the Prime Minister explain that, as vice-chair of the Treasury Board, he gave guarantees of this nature to Jean Chrétien, when he knew they were false?

[Jean Lapierre, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I do not understand why the Bloc Québécois members are not satisfied with Justice Gomery's answers. He examined every aspect of the sponsorship issue. Now they are trying to expand and change the debate because they are not satisfied with Justice Gomery's report. If they disagree with Justice Gomery, they should have the courage to say so. Justice Gomery has a great deal more credibility than all these members put together.

Aboriginal Affairs

[Jeremy Harrison, Conservative, Churchill River, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Indian Affairs has again failed aboriginal Canadians. In the past week, we have seen the population of a northern reserve airlifted to escape the poisonous water in their homes. In another aboriginal community, every single house is condemned as unfit for human habitation. Seventy-five per cent of aboriginal communities have problems with their drinking water and 95 are currently under boil water advisories.

The evidence is clear. When will the minister and the government admit their failure to protect the health of aboriginal Canadians?

[Andy Scott, Liberal, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member mentioned Kashechewan. I am pleased to say that the community is bringing in material for renovations. It is producing 50,000 litres of water a day right now. The future is bright for Kashechewan. That is because we made the right decision at the right time for those people.

[Jeremy Harrison, Conservative, Churchill River, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the only time the government took action was when this was in the media and on TV every night, even though the cabinet committee on aboriginal affairs is chaired by the Prime Minister himself.

The Minister of Indian Affairs was aware of the E.coli risk at Kashechewan eight weeks prior to the emergency evacuation by the Government of Ontario. Neither the minister, the cabinet committee nor the Prime Minister acted at that time to protect the citizens of Kashechewan. Was the minister grossly negligent in not informing the cabinet committee? Or was the Prime Minister grossly negligent in not acting?

[Andy Scott, Liberal, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians]

As I said, Mr. Speaker, and I stand by it, the Government of Canada made the right decisions by the people of Kashechewan.

They will now have the kind of future that most Canadians take for granted. This is good news for Kashechewan in the future. We will be building houses outside the diked area. It should have happened a long time ago.

Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, York West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, over the last several months there have been disasters around the world involving hurricanes and earthquakes. Could the Minister of Public Security and Emergency Preparedness tell us if Canada is prepared and what measures have been taken?

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

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is right to remind us that events such as those of July 7 in London and hurricane Katrina require all of us to ensure that we are working together to protect Canadians' safety and be prepared for any emergency.

That is why we have created a new department. That is why we are working closely with the provinces, municipalities and the private sector. We have a new government ops centre. We are putting more resources into training and exercises. I think we all see the importance of both training and exercises in relation to the tremendous response of first responders on July 7 in London. This government takes the collective safety--

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Macleod.

Softwood Lumber

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Macleod, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Paul Tellier, the international trade minister's now former advisor on softwood, said that “the file is idle and nothing is happening”. More damning, Mr. Tellier says that “nothing is going to happen until the end of the election campaign”.

With Tellier and Ritchie off the file, is it not true that the government has given up on Canada's softwood industry and plans to drive up anti-American trade rhetoric to gain cheap political points in the upcoming election?

[Jim Peterson, Liberal, Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, we have made it very clear that we are not going to negotiate when we have had a win at NAFTA. These were the Prime Minister's words.

NAFTA must be respected, which is why we are taking actions on a number of fronts, including retaliation, advocacy, litigation and finding new markets.

I am very grateful for the advice that I have had on an ongoing basis from Mr. Ritchie and Mr. Tellier. They will be available on a moment's notice when we need them.

Canadian Heritage

[Joy Smith, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the absence of an educational amendment to the new copyright law will have devastating consequences for both educators and students all across Canada. Schools cannot afford this added cost of paying for otherwise free materials from the Internet.

Will the minister put the educational amendment into the copyright legislation before the law is passed and it is too late?

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

Mr. Speaker, I have said it once and I will say it again. The copyright bill that is presented does not touch education. It is status quo in education. We have had a consultation paper for education presented at the same time as the copyright bill, but in the copyright bill there is actually no question of education and there will be no question of education.

Presence in Gallery

[The Speaker]

Order, please. On the occasion of Veterans' Week, I would like to draw to the attention of hon. members the presence in the gallery of five Canadian war veterans and peacekeepers and a current serving member of the military: Gerry Bowen, World War II veteran and retired major of the Royal Canadian Regiment; Helen Rapp, World War II veteran with the Canadian Women's Army Corps; Bill Black, who served aboard the HMCS Cayuga during the Korean War; Barry Helman, retired peacekeeper with the Royal Canadian Artillery; and Corporal Jean-Marc Parent, who served in Bosnia and is a current serving member of the Canadian armed forces.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Speaker]

I would also like to draw to the attention of hon. members the presence in the gallery of Mr. Jean-Baptiste Edaye, the Minister of Youth, Sport and Recreation for the Republic of Benin.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!