Mr. Speaker, I will summarize the position I had started to explain before the interruption caused by the Royal Assent. The leaflet in question contains a summary of what is commonly referred to as the sponsorship scandal. It contains proven facts. Indeed, in the synopsis of his report on the Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program and Advertising Activities of the Government of Canada, Mr. Justice Gomery states the following:
It is those facts that allow me to draw the following conclusions:
The Commission of Inquiry found:
—clear evidence of political involvement in the administration of the Sponsorship Program;
Is this not the reality described in our leaflet? I go on with the conclusions:
—a complex web of financial transactions among Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC), Crown Corporations and communication agencies, involving kickbacks and illegal contributions to a political party in the context of the Sponsorship Program;
Is this not also the reality described in our leaflet? Here are some of the other conclusions:
Five agencies that received large sponsorship contracts regularly channelling money, via legitimate donations or unrecorded cash gifts, to political fundraising activities in Quebec, with the expectation of receiving lucrative government contracts;
—certain agencies carrying on their payrolls individuals who were, in effect, working on Liberal Party matters;
—the existence of a “culture of entitlement” among political officials and bureaucrats involved with the Sponsorship Program, including the receipt of monetary and non-monetary benefits;
Is this not what our leaflet states? Let me end with one final conclusion:
The refusal of Ministers, senior officials in the Prime Minister’s Office and public servants to acknowledge their responsibility for the problems of mismanagement that occurred.
Should the member for Bourassa not admit that the Bloc Québécois has served the interests of democracy by allowing the facts contained in this leaflet to reflect our work and the need for a complete overhaul? They will soon reflect the need for a new government.