Debates of Feb. 9th, 2005

Sponsorship Program

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Central Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, ironically, let us talk about where that member was. He was a member of this party and a vocal critic of the man he now defends every day in the House of Commons. What a hypocrite.

The Liberals' real post-referendum strategy was to keep Jean Chrétien quiet. The masquerade is not over. Every time he opens his mouth, he sows the seeds of discord and contempt for institutions.

Tomorrow, will the Prime Minister finally dissociate himself from this sabotage and work in good faith with the inquiry?

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, let us be clear. In 1994, I was a member of a moderate, centrist, progressive party. I still am a member of a moderate, centrist, progressive party. The hon. member is not.

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Central Nova, NS]

And now, Mr. Speaker, he is a member of a corrupt--

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker]

Order, please. Perhaps we could have a little order. I cannot hear a word that is being said. The hon. member for Central Nova has the floor.

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Central Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday Jean Chrétien's highly publicized, highly scripted ball juggling routine at the Gomery commission revealed just how arrogant and corrupt this government is, and all efforts to get to the bottom of the ad scam will be averted.

Prior to embarking on his mad as hell tour, the Prime Minister repeatedly denied knowledge of the sponsorship or unity programs. Yet in testimony, Mr. Chrétien clearly stated that the Prime Minister was his ad scam partner, in charge of setting aside $50 million annually. Why is the Prime Minister not--

[The Speaker]

The hon. Minister of Public Works and Government Services.

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, once again the Prime Minister has acted decisively, as has the government. We have appointed Justice Gomery to do his work. We have the special counsel on financial recovery who has made his recommendations. We are moving forward on that front. We have introduced whistleblower legislation.

In fact, we are making a real difference here, while on the other side of the House those members attack the positive changes we are making here in our government, based on the courage and the leadership of our Prime Minister, to defend taxpayers' interests at all times in the Government of Canada. That is the right thing to do and I am proud we are doing it.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Jean Chrétien has told the Gomery commission that following the referendum the entire cabinet was united in its determination to do what was necessary to fight Quebec sovereignty. Jean Chrétien added that the recommendations of the Massé report, which emphasized increasing Canada's visibility in Quebec, were all unanimously approved by cabinet.

Since they sat at the cabinet table, will the Prime Minister and some of his colleagues who were there admit that right from the start they were solidly in favour of operation unity, which led to the sponsorship scandal?

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, all members of cabinet certainly stood up to defend Canada at a time when it was in crisis, at a time when unity was threatened.

Yes, the Government of Canada stood up to defend unity in Canada and we will continue to defend unity in this great multicultural masterpiece of Canada.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is amusing to hear that all the ministers stood up to defend Canada and to use taxpayers' money to buy Quebeckers, while there are none here who will stand up to answer questions.

These ministers can no longer plead ignorance.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

Order, please. I point out that we are in question period now, not debate. Debate comes later in the day. We will have that anon. If members want to carry on a debate now during question period, I suggest they go out in the foyer and do it there.

The hon. leader of the Bloc Québécois.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, these ministers can no longer plead ignorance. They tried to distance themselves from Jean Chrétien when he left in order to please the new Prime Minister. Now Jean Chrétien has caught up with them and said, “You were all involved with me in this”. Let them admit it.

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, once again the hon. member is commenting on daily testimony. Why does he not wait for Justice Gomery to finish his work and to report back to Canadians with his recommendations? That is what he ought to be doing, because he and others in the opposition demanded a judicial inquiry. They got their judicial inquiry. Why are they trying to subvert the work of that same judicial inquiry today?

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Charlevoix—Montmorency, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in his appearance before the Gomery inquiry yesterday, Jean Chrétien testified that, during his mandate, the former finance minister and present Prime Minister was in agreement with allocating $50 million annually for the secret Canadian unity fund.

That being the case, how can the present Prime Minister deny that it was he, who by injecting $50 million into the Canadian unity reserve year after year, funded the sponsorship scandal?

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has already said that the fund dates back to the early 1990s, that it was set up by the previous government, and that, when the Liberals took over, there were funds all over Canada, most of which have since been eliminated.

The reserve was in keeping with the established budgetary practice of setting aside policy reserves for specific contingent purposes. Our government has chosen a different approach and, as such, the reserve no longer exists.

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Charlevoix—Montmorency, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday Jean Chrétien stated that all sponsorship program expenditures were approved by the Treasury Board. Some half-dozen cabinet members were on the Treasury Board, including the present PM, who was vice-president.

Faced with such categorical statements, how can anyone, who was a member of the Treasury Board, and was financing the secret unity fund to the tune of $50 million a year, still maintain that he was totally in the dark? No one is buying that. The Prime Minister did know.

[Scott Brison, Liberal, Minister of Public Works and Government Services]

Mr. Speaker, the fact is again that the Prime Minister has said in the House he was aware of the unity reserve. This is not a big secret. In fact, it is part of the overall accounting practices of the Government of Canada that was made as part of a transparent budgetary process.

I do not know what the hon. member is talking about. The fact is, he does not know what he is talking about because he is commenting on daily testimony before a judicial inquiry. I know the Cons do not understand the independence of the judiciary, but I hope the Bloc really does.

Trade

[Jack Layton, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Mr. Speaker, while we watch the spectacle of the inquiry into Liberal misdeeds, Canadian jobs are marching out of this country to other countries. More than that, they are doing it with the tacit encouragement of the Minister of Industry.

Yesterday the Liberal Minister of International Trade said that outsourcing Canadian jobs was good, that it made sense for Air Canada to fix its planes in El Salvador instead of Vancouver, sense to make textiles abroad instead of in Winnipeg or Montreal, and that cars should be made in Mississippi, not Windsor.

It is a shipping tycoon's dream. Why pay a dollar when there is somebody in poverty who will take a dime? Is this official policy and why?

[Jim Peterson, Liberal, Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, what I said then, what I have said previously and what I will say today is that the best way to protect Canadian jobs and keep the Canadian job market growing is to be globally competitive. If we are not globally competitive, then we are inevitably going to lose jobs. This is the message we are taking to all Canadians.

We want Canadian companies to be globally competitive because that is the way the jobs are going to stay in Canada.

[Jack Layton, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Mr. Speaker, that answer is absolute fiction. Trade is good, but fair trade is essential. We cannot have fair trade while we are dealing with countries that use slave labour, countries that have fixed currencies, countries that do not respect human rights and countries that pay their workers pennies a day. That is not fair.

In fact, that kind of trade is open season on Canadian workers, communities and small businesses, and it has to stop. Under whose authority is the minister saying that somehow it is a good thing to fire Canadians and send their jobs offshore?

[Jim Peterson, Liberal, Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, it is absolutely critical in our globalized economy that our Canadians have access to the very best inputs or they will not remain globally competitive. If they are not globally competitive, we are going to lose those jobs in Canada.

We have seen examples of how companies can source from various places around the world and still remain globally competitive and grow here in Canada, and Canada has the best job creation record in the G-7.

National Revenue

[Monte Solberg, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

Mr. Speaker, if this government would heed the advice of the Conservative Party and cut taxes, there would be jobs staying in Canada. It was Don Drummond who recently argued that the government must cut taxes and give Canadians a national pay hike, but the Prime Minister during the election campaign spoke in grave tones about how that would drive Canada into deficit.

That is what the Liberals said during the election campaign. Then they fought against our throne speech amendments to lower taxes for middle income and low income Canadians. When will the Prime Minister admit that he was wrong? When will he admit that Canadians need tax relief and the government can afford tax relief?

[John McCallum, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, this government is no stranger to tax cuts. The hon. member seems to have forgotten that in the year 2000 we had a $100 billion tax cut, the largest in Canadian history. Is his memory so brief?

As for the future, he has two weeks to wait until the budget comes down.