House of Commons Hansard #157 of the 38th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was liberal.

Topics

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Noon

An hon. member

It is hypocrisy.

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Noon

Bloc

Gilles Duceppe Bloc Laurier, QC

Such is the Liberal culture deeply ingrained in the people across the way. Such is this Liberal culture of laughing at people, particularly the oldest members of society in this instance, who spent their lives contributing to society. When they are owed money, they are ignored. Yet money will be clawed back retroactively from school boards. And the Liberals claim to care about education. What fine thinking. But that is the usual thinking on almost every issue.

We doubt that voters will buy into the Prime Minister's petty blackmail.

We have seen money start pouring out again by the billions in recent days. We have seen the Liberals travel at the taxpayers' expense, flying here and there on Challengers. Suddenly, they are making announcement everywhere in Canada and Quebec. They are campaigning at the expense of the public purse. As usual, they are confusing the interests of the state and the interests of the Liberal Party of Canada, like in the sponsorship file. That is precisely what they are doing. That is scandalous. The Liberal culture gave us the sponsorship scandal, and the same culture is currently at play in this shameful blackmail they are subjecting the public to.

The Prime Minister is afraid of going before the voters, because he knows that the public is not fooled. This Prime Minister said he knew nothing about the sponsorship scandal, that he was not responsible. That is true, we can believe him on that, he is not responsible. Throughout the sponsorship scandal, quite irresponsibly, the Prime Minister was on a constant leadership campaign, having been the second in command in government, finance minister and vice-chair of the Treasury Board.

On page 47 of his report, Justice Gomery wrote that the Treasury Board no longer exercised its program oversight function. In other words, it was an open bar, the Liberals were at the bar and helping themselves freely. That is what happened.

Jean Chrétien tells us, “I regularly asked the Treasury Board whether everything was operating normally in the sponsorship program and they regularly responded that there was no problem whatsoever.” I recall that the current PM was then second in command in the government, vice-chair of the Treasury Board, Minister of Finance, and candidate for party leadership. He knows everybody in the party. The Prime Minister was asked; “Did you receive such an order—that being the word used by Mr. Chrétien—from the then prime minister? Did you reply and did you say there was no problem?” He refused to reply. He did not refuse to reply for no reason. Either he knew and said that nothing was going on, or this Prime Minister simply did not want to know. You know the story of see no evil, hear no evil; that was what went on with the Prime Minister. That is called complicity. That is the term for it.

In closing, I would like to speak to the public. The Prime Minister is trying to slough off his responsibilities and put the blame for a winter election on others. I would like people to know that the blame is his alone. Last year, he took opposition days away from the opposition parties. He fiddled with the parliamentary rules because he knew very well that there would be a motion of non-confidence and he would have lost it. That was his first undemocratic act. Then there was his ingratiating TV appearance, with the statement that he was “sorry that I was not more vigilant”. Indeed, as second in command at the Treasury Board he was not vigilant enough. He said “I will call a general election within 30 days of the publication of the commission’s final report ”. Hon. members will recall that the date scheduled for it at that time was December 15. In other words, he had to call the election by January 15 at the latest. He tells us that it is irresponsible to hold a winter election, yet I would remind him—meteorology being under federal jurisdiction—that he ought to know that January 15 falls in the winter.

Perhaps he winters in Barbados? This is a possibility.

In the past, we offered to compromise, saying that if he wanted to do it during the winter, he need only accept the NDP's proposal. All of a sudden, this was no longer an option for him. This had never happened in the winter, he said. However, in 1979, the Liberals toppled Joe Clark's government in early December. The election was held on February 20. They see this as a real feather in the Liberal Party's cap. This ensured the return of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, just before the 1980 referendum. Back then, a winter election was not a problem. However, it is a problem now because they do not want an election.

I can assure you the voters will reach the following conclusion. They will say that getting rid of the Liberals will be their Christmas present to themselves.

There are two sponsorship scandals. The first involves the kickbacks, the Liberal corruption and the Prime Minister saying that he knew nothing or rather that he did not want to know about it. This scandal affects us all because it was our money, taxpayers' money, that was misappropriated. The second sponsorship scandal is that the Liberal government wanted to circumvent the democratic rules in order to beat the sovereignists, because it has nothing to offer Quebec. That is the second scandal.

The Liberal Party of Canada, under the current Prime Minister, tried to buy Quebeckers off. This shows contempt for Quebec. The Gomery commission did not have the mandate to judge both these scandals. I am addressing the voters here because they are the ones with the mandate to judge the corruption, the contempt and the Liberal culture embodied by this party and its members. This issue will be key in the upcoming election. I invite everyone to come out en masse and to deliver the message that corruption and contempt are no longer welcome in Quebec.

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12:10 p.m.

Trinity—Spadina Ontario

Liberal

Tony Ianno LiberalMinister of State (Families and Caregivers)

Mr. Speaker, there are a couple of points on which I would like to obtain clarification. First, on seniors, with the increase of $433 when fully implemented, it will cost the government $700 million a year and will be for perpetuity. That will help 1.6 million seniors across the country who are trying to survive.

Second, we also are dealing with social programs and the guaranteed income supplement, which is non-taxable. This is $6,000 plus that each senior can apply for every year to ensure they have immediate relief for the year. We continue to work on our social importance of seniors in many ways by our New Horizons programs, our seniors secretariat, and I could continue.

The practice in Canada, with all provincial governments and the federal government, is there is a 12 month period and a retroactivity period of 11 months after the date when seniors notify the government that they have not applied for the guaranteed income supplement. That is the same for all provincial social programs, including the PQ in Quebec. What we have is almost a uniform perspective dealing with the provinces on retroactivity with social programs.

In yesterday's vote the Liberal Party voted in favour of the motion of the hon. member for Saint-Maurice—Champlain. He has been active on this file for quite a while. We felt it was important to let the bill go to committee, so we could look at the process and see what could do to make it work.

Unfortunately, the Bloc made a deal with the Conservatives. On social programs, especially in Quebec, the Conservatives are like a zero. The reason why Quebeckers like the Liberal Party is because we care about people and our social programs.

Is there a deal with the Conservative Party, when and if it forms the government, that issues within Quebec will be dealt with in a coalition government by the Bloc Québécois? Then the Conservative government can slash all social programs in the rest of the country and make a deal between the two?

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12:15 p.m.

Bloc

Gilles Duceppe Bloc Laurier, QC

Mr. Speaker, I was talking about contempt and hypocrisy and that was a good illustration.

Yesterday we voted and the Liberals supported this motion to give seniors full retroactivity of the guaranteed income supplement. In fact, they voted in favour of the motion. Now, they are invoking the fact that the bill did not have time to be reviewed in committee. I will remind them that we passed bills this week that were not reviewed in committee because there was the political will to do so. We did this for veterans.

That was the first thing—

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12:15 p.m.

Liberal

Tony Ianno Liberal Trinity—Spadina, ON

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The chair, because of the budgetary perspective, ruled the segment on the retroactivity out of order. Basically, it can only go--

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12:15 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

The hon. minister is entering into debate. We will hear the rest of the response from the leader of the Bloc Québécois.

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12:15 p.m.

Bloc

Gilles Duceppe Bloc Laurier, QC

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to give the same response you gave yesterday. You refused to apply unanimous consent because you said you heard “nays” from the Liberal side. That is what happened. That is the first thing.

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12:15 p.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh!

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12:15 p.m.

Bloc

Gilles Duceppe Bloc Laurier, QC

If the hon. member for Ahuntsic would calm down a bit, we could continue our discussion. She can rise later to ask questions and try to be coherent, but until then, it would be preferable for her to stay quiet.

Second, as for retroactivity, when it comes time to claw back money from taxpayers who did not pay enough taxes, the government acts retroactively.

The minister of state gave the example of the birth of a child in Quebec and the 11-month period during which parents can receive family benefits. It is quite easy to notice when a child is born; the mother is quite aware of it. I do not know whether the hon. member realizes that. It is therefore easy for the mother to fill out the forms in hospital.

However, seniors often have a hard time reading and are unaware of some of the existing government programs. It is stated in fine print, like in insurance contracts, that the beneficiaries are entitled to this or that, but seniors do not see that. That is what happens and it is misappropriation of funds on the backs of seniors.

Today, I challenge the Liberals to have the decency not to give out the money they took from seniors. Then at least they will stand up and seem honest, even though they are not.

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12:15 p.m.

Conservative

Michael Chong Conservative Wellington—Halton Hills, ON

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the Bloc leader for his words. I have a few questions for him.

Before I ask the question, one of the big stories of the last 12 years has been the elimination of the deficit. The government will certainly try to take all the credit for that, but I think that arguably free trade, swelling of government revenues and the implementation of the very difficult but good tax, called the GST, was responsible for that success story.

The real story of the last 12 years though has been one of lost opportunities. We have had surpluses over the last number of years which we have not had in three decades, yet the government has squandered opportunity. National unity is on the slide, and I disagree with my hon. colleague from the Bloc Québécois on that file. I believe in one country and one strong, united Canada. It has been on a slide as a direct result of the government's mishandling of the Quebec file. Native conditions continue to be abhorrent in the country. The environment and smog issues are ever increasingly difficult in the GTA. Productivity continues to slide.

The story of the last 12 years has been one of lost opportunities. However, the worst story of the last 12 years, and one that should cause concern for all Canadians regardless of their partisan stripe, is the subversion of democracy.

In 1997 the party in power won that election with 155 seats out of 301 seats with a margin--

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12:15 p.m.

The Acting Speaker (Mr. Chuck Strahl)

The hon. member for Laurier—Sainte-Marie.

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12:15 p.m.

Bloc

Gilles Duceppe Bloc Laurier, QC

Mr. Speaker, in view of the Liberals' attitude following the 1995 referendum, I think there are three points in their strategy.

First, they denied the rights of the National Assembly by means of the Clarity Act.

Second, they caused the fiscal imbalance. Mr. Massé, the president of Treasury Board at the time, put it very well: “We are going to ensure that Lucien Bouchard [the Premier of Quebec at the time] does not have the means to pay for social programs and we will swoop in as the great saviours”. That is exactly what they have been doing.

Third, in doing this, they said to themselves that they would try to buy the consciences of Quebeckers. The sponsorship program followed, and away things went. At the same time, they were lining the pockets of their friends.

That being said, in regard to what is called national unity, Canadian unity, I will tell you very frankly and with the deepest respect for Canada, which is a great country, and for the Canadian nation, which is a great nation, that the day Quebec becomes a sovereign country, Canadian unity will be all the stronger because this issue will no longer arise. Canada will then be a very united country. This will no longer be a topic of conversation. This issue will not arise.

Canada will finally be a very united country alongside a very united country called Quebec. We will be good friends who work together thanks to what we have in common, rather than squabbling over what divides us.

There is always a way to agree with a neighbour on the care of a shared lawn. But when the neighbour comes and paints the walls of my living room, that is going too far.

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12:20 p.m.

Liberal

Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC

Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the leader of the Bloc Québécois,

I would point out to begin with that I do not need any lectures on morality from him or any of his colleagues.

I have several questions in reserve and I would like him to give me direct and brief answers.

Does the leader of the Bloc Québécois accept the Gomery report or does he doubt Justice Gomery's credibility? In other words, does he accept the entire report or only paragraph 1.4 of chapter I, but not paragraph 16.3 of chapter XVI? Does he accept the report as a whole or only selectively?

As for my second question, it deals with integrity.

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12:20 p.m.

The Deputy Speaker

I am sorry to interrupt, but the hon. member's time is up.

The hon. member for Laurier—Sainte-Marie.

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12:20 p.m.

Bloc

Gilles Duceppe Bloc Laurier, QC

Mr. Speaker, he does not want any lectures on morality. First of all, he might need an explanation of what morality is. Then perhaps he would understand things better.

Second, we do of course accept the Gomery report, even the part where Mr. Gomery writes that the Prime Minister, and finance minister, was not connected to the administration of the sponsorship program. We were saying so even before the report was released.

We also accept the part on page 47 where Justice Gomery says that the Treasury Board stopped exercising its oversight function over the programs. The Minister of Finance was second in command in this government, and especially Vice-President of the Treasury Board. That we accept.

In addition, Justice Gomery writes that the Liberal Party of Canada has, as an institution, developed a system of corruption. We accept that also.

I am pleased that our friend at last accepts something that is true, at least here in the House. I share his opinion. Justice Gomery writes on page 7 that ministers, senior public servants and executive assistants did not properly supervise the administration of this program. I accept that, perfectly and completely, from beginning to end.

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12:20 p.m.

Conservative

Peter MacKay Conservative Central Nova, NS

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to take part in this important historic debate which in no short time at all will result in Canada embarking on an important election.

The motion before the House has been clearly defined. It speaks to the need to remove the government from office for reasons that have been outlined and will be chronicled throughout the day.

Earlier this week a majority of the House of Commons voted in favour of the New Democratic Party's motion which called for an election in early February. The Liberal Party uncategorically rejected it. It is clear that the government refused to compromise, refused a non-confidence motion that at that time would have caused an election to occur after Christmas.

It is also important to note that the original timetable that was set out by the Prime Minister which would have had the second report for Gomery arrive on December 1 would have put the country in the exact same position that we are currently facing.

The government has refused once again, as it has on so many occasions, to accept the democratic will of the House. Therefore, the official opposition has now moved a motion that condemns the arrogance of the government by refusing the will of the House as it has before. It condemns the Liberal government for the culture of entitlement, corruption, scandal, gross abuse of public funds for political purposes, and massive misrepresentation.

So much of this was at one time a priority for the Prime Minister. He spoke of the democratic deficit. He spoke of the need to end the culture of who you know in the PMO. It has now become clear that he in fact has embraced another culture and that is, “How much money can we blow in the PMO? How much can we access for the sole purposes of buying public support?”

As the words fall from the Prime Minister's mouth, he knows they are untrue when he makes these types of promises. We have seen that from the very beginning when the Prime Minister came to public office with the avowed purpose of defeating free trade, with the avowed promise to axe the tax to get rid of the GST. Then in true form in Janus-faced enthusiasm, he embraced both of those policies, calling them his own and taking credit for them throughout the country. That is not the type of honesty one would expect from the high office of Prime Minister.

To preface my remarks I want to refer of course to Justice Gomery's report, which in very telling words stated:

The Report that follows chronicles a depressing story of multiple failures to plan a government program appropriately and to control waste--a story of greed, venality and misconduct both in government and advertising and communications agencies, all of which contributed to the loss and misuse of huge amounts of money at the expense of Canadian taxpayers. They are outraged and have valid reason for their anger.

These are watchwords for the campaign and will be engraved on the tombstone of the Liberal Party at the conclusion of the campaign.

The Liberal Party now sets these priorities of addressing gun violence, priorities of addressing some of the terrible things that have happened in our country's history, whether it be abuses in residential schools, whether it be historic injustices of those who have suffered at the hands of previous governments, Japanese immigrants, Ukrainians, native people. Yet all of this is happening cynically on the eve of an election rather than accepting the fact that the government has now had over 12 years to address some of these serious concerns on behalf of Canadians. This speaks again to the priorities.

The priorities of the government are now clear. The government devotes all of its energies and its unfettered access to the public purse to perpetuate itself in power by any means possible. This is a government of failures. This is a government that subordinates the interests of the country to the interests of the Liberal Party each and every time that the Liberals approach an election.

This type of governance has to end. We have seen so many examples, such as the gun registry, which is a ghastly and grievous waste of government money, public money, $2 billion for this program, while we have seen violence increase on the streets of this country. To perpetuate this type of bureaucratic monstrosity is again what I would describe as a simultaneous, face-saving, rear-end covering exercise on the part of the government.

The Liberals once again subvert the interests of Canadians to somehow avoid accountability and responsibility for their misguided policies. They consistently put blind partisanship ahead of people's interests.

Mr. Speaker, I should have noted at the outset that I will be splitting my time with my friend the hon. member for Prince George—Peace River, who has graciously allowed me to precede him in this exercise.

It was an abuse of the trust of taxpayers everywhere. This program has been highlighted as the worst political scandal in modern history. Justice Gomery has confirmed that millions of dollars, millions, were stolen from the public treasury to the benefit of the Liberal Party.

The Liberals say that they will pay back a paltry $1.14 million. They have decided that is the amount they owe, overlooking all of the evidence, overlooking the compelling testimony of Liberals themselves under oath who suggested that the money far exceeds that amount. It is like the Minister of Justice himself getting up and suggesting that the Liberal Party has negotiated with the Liberal government that this is the amount they owe and by the way, they find themselves darned good-looking at the same time. It is ridiculous.

Justice Gomery confirmed the existence of a culture of entitlement. Those were his words. They rang very true again when we heard Mr. David Dingwall refer to entitlement to entitlements in justifying a severance package from his old friends and cronies in the PMO. We know this culture of entitlement runs deep in the Liberal Party.

The bureaucrats who were involved in the sponsorship program just a short time ago spoke of this when they testified before the public accounts committee here in the House of Commons. Ironically, that public accounts committee was cut off just before the last election. It was shut down as we were about to hear the testimony of a very key figure in the entire scandal, and that was Jean Brault. Once again there was interference at the highest levels to avoid accountability and responsibility.

For 12 years now the Liberals have been siphoning Canadians' tax dollars, wasting money on things like the gun registry, Challenger jets, the HRDC boondoggle and a myriad of other untenable programs that do not help ordinary Canadians.

The government has rewarded illegal and immoral behaviour. Let us just look at some of the examples of this culture of entitlement.

When the lid started to come off the sponsorship scandal, the government made the minister who was most responsible, most involved, the ambassador to Denmark. Talk about rewarding bad behaviour. What did the Danish ever do to deserve that?

André Ouellet, then the president of Canada Post, was allowed to charge Canadian taxpayers in excess of $2 million in travel and hospitality expenses without turning in a single receipt, and my colleague from Palliser is still trying to get to the bottom of that. Who can get away with that type of thing?

Then of course the infamous David Dingwall with a salary in excess of $277,000 billed ordinary Canadians for gum, a newspaper and water. Talk about a culture of entitlement.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs was allowed to bring his chauffeur along on a foreign affairs trip, even though he was not doing any driving over there as far as we know.

The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration billed the taxpayers for over $7,000 in restaurant meals during an 11 week period, including an incredible $130 pizza binge for two, charging it to the Canadian taxpayers.

Of course, I have mentioned Mr. Dingwall, but just weeks after Justice Gomery's scathing report was made public, the Liberal government issued an untendered contract to the Liberal campaign manager, David Herle, for advice on the government's mini budget. Mr. Herle's firm, Veraxis Research and Communications, was given over $23,000 for this contract without competition to essentially write the Liberal Party's election platform.

This type of approach to governance is an absolute disgrace that has to end. That is what this election will allow Canadians to do. It will allow Canadians to put an end to this type of governance. It is a sad day for Canada when we come to the conclusion that this is what we must do. A national party like the Liberal Party, a historic institution, has broken faith with the people of Canada and has abused the public trust that it was given.

We have a Prime Minister who has brought disgrace and, I would suggest, disrepute to his high office which he now occupies.

It is time to end the culture of corruption. It is time to end the gross misuse of the money of taxpayers and hard-working Canadians. That is what a Conservative Party will do under the leadership of the hon. member for Calgary Southwest. That is what a Conservative Party will do in realigning and recalibrating the priorities of government with those of Canadians.

My constituents in Central Nova and Nova Scotians in general want the same thing as all Canadians in all parts of the country. They want accountable responsible government. They want clear, honest representation, not the arrogance displayed by the government. They want programs that work. They want access to government aid when they need it and when they deserve it, not because they have joined or support any political party.

What is most appalling is that while kickback cash was being channelled through the sponsorship program to the Liberal Party, the Liberals were also simultaneously wasting and mismanaging programs across the country without giving priority to Canadians. This has to end.

Canadians now have an opportunity to flush the government from office and bring about a clean, honest, responsible government that will get on with bringing this country higher, putting priorities straight and getting on with reaching the potential that we know we have in this great nation.

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12:30 p.m.

West Nova Nova Scotia

Liberal

Robert Thibault LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health

Mr. Speaker, I had the opportunity to participate, along with the member for Central Nova, on the public accounts committee. He will remember that when Mr. Guité appeared he told us about the transition of power and what his role had been under the Conservative government and what his role became under the Liberal government. That is all the investigation that Justice Gomery has done, which I will return to in a moment.

The member will also remember that at the time Mr. Guité told us that when he was working at public works, the minister was a well-respected Nova Scotian, Mr. Elmer MacKay, whom the member knows quite well, and I cast no aspersions on Mr. MacKay or his record in office and I have no reason to.

He will remember also that at the time Mr. Guité indicated that when the decisions were made, and I think the direction for the program did not come from the Minister of Public Works but from Senator Lowell Murray, who was handling that at the time, there were political staffers appointed to direct the committee and who were part of the decision making along with Mr. Guité. I think the member would do well to remember that.

I wonder should the Conservatives ever form government whether they would investigate that.

This Prime Minister chose not to. He chose to take his responsibilities and have the investigation of Justice Gomery focus on the time when the Liberals took power to the present, and to give all the information of cabinet requested by Mr. Gomery. Justice Gomery came to the conclusion that the current Prime Minister had no involvement and was exonerated, was completely cleared.

Will the member not admit that to the Canadian public, or does he deny Justice Gomery and his conclusions?

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12:35 p.m.

Conservative

Peter MacKay Conservative Central Nova, NS

Mr. Speaker, that is a very convenient and Liberal description of history, a very Janus-faced description of history. I would certainly hope that my colleague opposite from my home province would not try to besmirch my father's name in this House or anywhere else.

What the member has tried to do is somehow draw attention away and distract and deflect what Mr. Justice Gomery did find. He did not exonerate the Prime Minister of anything other than having operated the sponsorship program, of which he was never accused.

What Mr. Justice Gomery said is that as finance minister, as vice-president of the Treasury Board, as a senior Quebec cabinet minister who was involved in a bloodless coup to replace his prime minister throughout the 12 year period that he was in the Liberal government, he was part and parcel of the Liberal Party that brought about a culture of entitlement, that funnelled money back to itself through the sponsorship program, that was involved in illegal activity, that was involved in immoral activity. That is what Mr. Justice Gomery found.

The attempt by the member to somehow focus attention from his own party's failings is like saying that it was John A. Macdonald's fault, that the Liberals could just roll back the clock and pretend that they were not in government for 12 years.

The member is doing the classic bait and switch. Canadians are not going to buy it. They see through this attempt. They want new, clean, honest government.

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12:35 p.m.

Liberal

David Anderson Liberal Victoria, BC

Mr. Speaker, the member has quite rightly pointed out that money stolen from the public treasury and paid to the Liberal Party should be paid back. That is exactly what has happened. He has also called for transparency and for accountability in government. That is very appropriate, too. There should be.

Last Thursday United States authorities indicted Mr. Conrad Black of diverting some $51.8 million U.S. in the CanWest fraud scheme from Hollinger International shareholders and, this is interesting, from the Canadian taxpayers. Given the prominent role of Mr. Conrad Black and his associates, David Radler and Peter White, in the neo-con movement in this country over the last 15 years, would the deputy leader of the opposition be willing to have a release of the names of donors to the Leader of the Opposition's leadership campaign so that we could determine whether or not any of these moneys, which we only knew might have been stolen last week with this indictment, wound up in the campaign of the Leader of the Opposition?

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12:35 p.m.

Conservative

Peter MacKay Conservative Central Nova, NS

Mr. Speaker, let us again put some facts straight here.

As far as I know, Lord Black, who is in a pile of trouble, has not been and is not a member of our party. He has been out of this country in fact for some time.

As far as any kind of veiled allusion to there being a failure to disclose donors, as far as I know, the leader of the official opposition has been entirely open and has disclosed on a website, as did I, after the leadership contest. Those remarks are of course just the same sad, tired attempt to draw attention away from the misdeeds and the total arrogance and corruption in which his party has been engaged.

I know he is not in good favour with his party right now. I know he will soon be spending more time fly-fishing and doing things for which he has a passion, and I wish him well in that endeavour. However it is important that Canadians understand that this type of corruption, this type of theft and this type of arrogance has to end. It is something that should be investigated by the RCMP and we are hopeful we will finally see some accountability and perhaps there will be some Liberals red-faced, dragged in handcuffs into the public courtroom and forced to face accountability. Canadians deserve to see that.

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12:40 p.m.

Conservative

Jay Hill Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC

Mr. Speaker, at the outset of today's historic debate I would like to begin by thanking my colleague from Central Nova for graciously sharing his time with me. He has done remarkable work, not only for his constituents of Central Nova but also on behalf of the new Conservative Party as its deputy leader. I want to make note of that.

In the time I have today I would like to dispel a couple of myths and walk the House and the viewing public through a chronology of events of this the 38th Parliament. I cannot say the word that is most appropriate because it is deemed unparliamentary to say the word lie, but let me say it this way. It is being widely reported in the media nowadays that the government is resorting to a lot of whoppers.

It seems like the government House leader adheres to that old adage that if someone says something long enough, loud enough and often enough, there are people who will believe it. We saw that the last time in the campaign of fear that the Liberals ran against the new Conservative Party in the June 2004 election. It was a campaign of fear against a campaign of hope and, unfortunately, and I mean this sincerely, the campaign of fear ultimately won out on voting day. I am really hopeful that this time Canadians will make up their minds not out of fear or from the many blatant, bald-faced whoppers that the Liberals will say about Conservatives to try to frighten voters away from supporting us at the polls whenever the election date is set.

The first thing I want to dispel is the accusation that somehow the Conservative Party, as Her Majesty's official loyal opposition in this place, has been totally consumed with trying to force an election. That is blatantly false. Mr. Speaker, you know it and I think Canadians who have been paying attention to what has been going on in Parliament over the last 18 months, or however long it has been, would know that as well.

We have tried to make Parliament work right from the very beginning. Let us reflect on the reality. Even before this 38th Parliament began to sit in October of last year, the leader of the official opposition, the MP for Calgary Southwest, got together with the other two opposition leaders and said that in order to make Parliament work better we should have a meeting to see what we can do.

They came up with a number of changes to the Standing Orders. People who have followed this particular Parliament would know that. They made the change to have a vote on ratification of international treaties. They thought it was pretty important that rather than just having the cabinet decide that, it should come to the chamber for ratification.

They wanted to ensure a greater level of accountability. Accountability is a word we will be hearing so much of over the coming weeks and months. All leaders wanted to ensure for themselves, as well as the Prime Minister, that they would be held accountable with questions and comments in this chamber because, up until they made that change, that had not happened.

They wanted to strike two new standing committees of Parliament, one to address women's issues and the other access to information, privacy and ethics. Ethics is another word that we will be hearing a lot of over the next number of weeks and months as well.

As we very well know, one other change they agreed upon and subsequently made to Parliament was to ensure that the Deputy Speaker's role and the other two acting Speakers were brought forward by the elected Speaker of this chamber rather than the Prime Minister. I think that was a very positive change that was brought forward.

When the throne speech was made on October 4 of last year, it was our leader, the Conservative leader, the member for Calgary Southwest, because it looked like Parliament might fall that quickly with a vote on the throne speech, got together with the opposition leaders, ultimately with the Prime Minister, and brought forward amendments to the throne speech, something that was unheard of.

They wanted to ensure that the employment insurance fund could be used only for the benefit of workers instead of for balancing the federal budget. What a concept. They wanted to ensure the government had to tell the truth in budget forecasting. There is a novel idea that the Liberals have trouble with. They wanted to ensure that the subject of the ballistic missile defence program came to a vote in the House of Commons. Those are just three of the five amendments they brought forward.

What happened to those amendments? If we reflect back on them, virtually nothing happened to them and yet the Liberal government proclaims that somehow it is trying to make Parliament work, not us.

That leads me to another issue, which is opposition days. For the people who are watching, opposition days are very important for accountability, for holding a government to account. They are the days that are set aside in the parliamentary calendar for opposition parties to bring issues of importance to their constituents, to the 63% of Canadians who did not vote Liberal in the last election, to bring those issues to the floor of the House of Commons. What did the government and its House leader do? They cancelled them in April of this year. When the government knew it might face a confidence vote it cancelled the opposition days and postponed them until June so it could know that the opposition was unlikely to force an election in June because we would have a mid-summer vote.

The government did the same thing this fall. The House started sitting on September 26. We had our first opposition day just last week. All those days went by. Why? The government was afraid. It now has the audacity to suggest that the coming election that will straddle the Christmas season is somehow our fault.

The reality is that if we would have had our way we would have had the election last spring, as the House well knows. We certainly would have had it this fall when the weather was nice. No problem.

We have believed since April of last year, when the revelations from the Gomery inquiry became so damning, that the government does not deserve to be in office. However this whole nonsense that we are somehow consumed with only desiring an election is absolutely not credible.

The record will show that of the somewhere in the neighbourhood of 80 bills introduced with the flurry of activity we saw last week, we have either supported or taken a position to support 60% of them, which is 48 of the 80. We, the official opposition, have been acting responsibly on the part of Canadians.

Let us look at the government record. Including today, although I doubt the government will support the motion today, but of the 24 opposition supply day motions the government has supported exactly three, which is 12%. Even of the ones that passed without the support of the Liberals, virtually nothing has happened. This is how the government says that it is in support of democracy.

I heard the government House leader say during his remarks earlier today that somehow his government was the bastion of democracy. It is absolutely ridiculous. The reality is that this is the most undemocratic Parliament in our nation's history, the way these members have performed.

One of the opposition motions that was passed over the last year was to ensure all victims of hepatitis C received compensation. The second motion passed was to ensure that farmers were adequately compensated. This is important, not only to the people of Prince George--Peace River, who I am always privileged to represent here, but to farmers and farm families who are struggling under an income crisis from coast to coast, whether they are corn producers, beef producers or whatever. I want to remind everyone that we wanted to have a take note debate on the issue. We negotiated that with the House leaders and the government said that as long as the minister was available we could have it on Tuesday night. That was two nights ago on November 22 but somehow the minister was not available. Therefore the Liberals scratched the idea of having a take note debate, as if a debate on something that important hinges upon the need to have the minister in the chamber. What a joke.

However the Liberals try to pretend somehow that they have defended democracy when everyone who has watched what has unfolded over the last year knows exactly the opposite.

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12:50 p.m.

West Nova Nova Scotia

Liberal

Robert Thibault LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health

Mr. Speaker, I would like to give the House leader of the official opposition the opportunity when he rises again to perhaps correct the statement by the member for Central Nova, who indicated that the leader of their party had disclosed his contributions. My understanding is that the contributions to his leadership race in 2002, when he was heading up the national tax coalition, have not been put forward and have not been made available to Canadians. I am sure that in the spirit of openness and democracy he would want to do that. Perhaps he would be able to correct this.

The member mentioned all the measures that were supported. One that the opposition did not support, of course, was a tax measure which involved reducing taxes for the vast majority of Canadians, especially low and middle income earners, the people who need it the most.

He also mentioned in his speech the percentage of bills brought forward by the opposition and which government members found favour with, indicating that it was around 12%. I have never done the calculation, but I am certainly hopeful that in the next Parliament they bring better bills forward so we could support a larger majority of them.

The motion that has been put forward is a motion of non-confidence, but those members could have voted non-confidence on many measures put forward by the government. They did not. They supported them, with the NDP putting off their confidence motion.

Would the member not admit that his leader may be afraid of the serpent in the orchard that might crawl out and get him? Maybe he is afraid of being smitten by the lord of New Brunswick and being challenged for his position and finds it better to go to the polls now rather than waiting until a later date.

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12:50 p.m.

Conservative

Jay Hill Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC

First, Mr. Speaker, I will comment on this whole business that the Liberals have been trying desperately to raise today.

I do not take any pride whatsoever in making this following statement, but I alluded to it at the beginning of my remarks. I want to serve notice here and now to the Canadian people that if they think the last election campaign of May and June 2004 was a dirty campaign filled with Liberal attack ads that were totally untrue, they have not seen anything yet. We are seeing it start today in this chamber.

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12:50 p.m.

Liberal

Anne McLellan Liberal Edmonton Centre, AB

Is that a threat from you, Jay?

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12:50 p.m.

Conservative

Jay Hill Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC

No, it is a promise, because I know how the Liberals operate. It is not a threat. I can promise Canadian voters this. Right now I can make this prophesy: the Liberals will be running a campaign of fear. They have been doing it already for the last two weeks after they found out the jig was up. They have been caught on it. They have been caught by the fact that the Minister of Public Works has already had to apologize. One would think they would have learned something from that, but they have not, just as they have not learned anything from ad scam.

I did not get a chance to say this in my remarks. I could speak for hours about the reality of the Liberal government and how it is filled with patronage appointments, whether it is Dingwall or Ouellet. It just flabbergasts me and I know it upsets Canadians.

Canadians are going to get their chance to give their judgment on what will be judgment day for the Liberal government when they get to decide who has the best tax relief program and who has a vision for the future of this country. It sure will not be that government or that party of corruption and a culture of entitlement.