Debates of April 22nd, 2005

Families

[Jean-Claude D'Amours, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Speaker, recently, I had the pleasure of seeing a play put on by the children at Les Débrouillards child care centre and the Énergiecentre in Val d'Amour, New Brunswick. This play, entitled Famille sans respect, famille sans success was part of the program “Moi, je contrôle mon agressivité”.

This play was part of a project to find positive strategies to curb aggressiveness in children.

I want to congratulate the children who put on this play: Marie-Pier Savoie, Joshua Pitre, Emmanuel Borris, Véronic Thibeault, Anthony Maltais, Jean-Philippe Savoie, Valérie Ouellette, Émilie Maltais and Derek Lurette, under the supervision of Angeline Gaudet.

Post-Secondary Education

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, during the 2004 election the Prime Minister promised to reinvest $8 billion, which he in fact had cut, back into post-secondary education core funding. In a spectacular betrayal, the 2005-06 budget did not contain a red cent toward keeping that promise. Another promise made, another promise broken, with disastrous consequences.

At Dalhousie University in my riding for example, medical, dentistry, law and international students face tuition hikes of over 9% this year. Some medical students, graduating with debts in excess of $100,000, are faced with a government that will not even extend interest relief while they are completing their residencies.

Last week Liberal members voted down my private member's bill that would have reversed Liberal imposed discrimination and at least would have allowed the most desperate students to qualify for bankruptcy relief two years after completing their studies. My plea to government members to send Bill C-236 to committee to allow MPs--

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Calgary West.

The Prime Minister

[Rob Anders, Conservative, Calgary West, AB]

Mr. Speaker, in 1970 Prime Minister Trudeau spoke to the nation to address the FLQ crisis. In 1990 Prime Minister Mulroney spoke to the nation to announce the failure of the Meech Lake accord. In 1995 Prime Minister Chrétien spoke to the nation in advance of the Quebec referendum. Yesterday the Prime Minister spoke to the nation to save his career.

In a desperate and diversionary ruse to buy his moribund government more time, the Prime Minister promised an election, but only in 10 months. Why do we not first take a look at what he has done in the last 10 months: no meaningful tax cuts, no democratic reform, no dealing with the fiscal imbalance.

The Prime Minister has become an expert at making promises, but keeping them is a whole different matter. The Prime Minister has dithered so often that he does not ever actually get anything done. We must judge our politicians not on what they say, but on what they have done. The Prime Minister has shown that the only thing he does is break promises.

Colombia

[Odina Desrochers, Bloc, Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, on April 14 and 17, the town of Toribio, Colombia, came under attack. The guerillas left the town in ruins. Houses, the church and the hospital were destroyed.

The internal armed conflict in Colombia started over 40 years ago and has led to the widespread violation of human rights and international law. There have been massacres and murders at the hands of the guerillas, paramilitary groups and the armed forces. There have been numerous kidnappings in Colombia too.

Currently, over 3,000 Paeces Indians are calling for the return of their land. They have returned to Toribio, with the support of a United Nations delegation. These people are an example of peaceful resistance to war. They reject war as a means to resolve the country's social and political crisis.

I want to pay tribute to these 3,000 men and women who believe in peace and who are promoting peace in their country.

Workplace Safety

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the Weyburn and District Labour Council in my constituency has invited me to attend their annual ceremony for the April 28 National Day of Mourning. It is a day of mourning to recognize workers who have been injured or killed on the job.

Each year in Canada an average of 1,000 workers are killed and hundreds or thousands of others are injured or suffer illnesses as a result of workplace related diseases. It is a time to mourn, to reflect, and to the extent we can, to share the horror, the trauma and the emotion that workers and those close to them have had to face.

We must, because we are in a position to do so, commit ourselves to fight for healthy and safe workplaces. Our human resources are the most important fundamental cog in our expanding and ever-changing economy that defines us as who we are. We must fully understand that human life in all of its aspects is precious and is our most precious commodity that must be treated with respect. We must do everything we can to ensure a safe and healthy workplace.

Conservative Party of Canada

[Don Boudria, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives are now trying to pretend to be friends of new Canadians, but they are not fooling anyone. Just look at the facts.

That is the same party whose members fought against the right to wear a turban in the RCMP, who wanted to cut immigration numbers because of the jobs they were supposedly stealing from Canadians, and who have long wanted to cut funding altogether for multiculturalism.

It is the same party where a certain leader once referred to immigrants as “people who live in ghettos” and whose Conservative colleagues once advocated going to the camps to pick and choose those who should be allowed in Canada, not to mention a former MP of the same gang who wanted to put Oriental and other immigrant employees in the back of the store.

As we say in Glengarry--Prescott--Russell:

“The more things change, the more it's la meme chose ”.

National Day of Mourning

[The Speaker]

I now invite the House to rise and observe a minute of silence to commemorate the National Day of Mourning and to honour the memory of workers killed or injured at work.

Sponsorship Program

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Central Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, last evening the Prime Minister looked Canadians in the eye and asked them to believe him this time.

In sworn testimony before the Gomery commission he told Canadians he did not know Mr. Boulay very well. Yet according to Mr. Boulay's wife, they were part of the family that the Prime Minister worked with on his 1993 campaign. They worked at his office. Following the election the Prime Minister joined 11 other campaign workers for an intimate brunch at the Boulay home. Of course, we know the Prime Minister wrote a highly personalized and even flirtatious letter to Mr. Boulay and his wife.

How can the Prime Minister with these glaring contradictions on the record expect Canadians to believe him?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, we will have ample time in this question period to explore that and other questions.

However, I would like to note that yesterday the communications director for the Conservative Party drew an absolutely horrendous comparison between the Prime Minister of Canada and Osama bin Laden. Surely this defies all the rules of civility and decency.

As we begin today, I would invite the deputy leader of the Conservative Party to disavow that comparison.

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Central Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, perhaps the Prime Minister should come here and deal with that situation himself.

Diane Deslauriers, Claude's wife, was known as the queen of ticket sellers. She was very active in the fundraising efforts of the Liberal Party and on behalf of the Prime Minister. In her spare time from selling tickets she even organized a fundraising golf tournament for the Prime Minister. It is interesting to note where the former Prime Minister's balls are now.

The Prime Minister was the senior minister in Quebec and we know his leadership campaign was well underway.

It is just not believable when the Prime Minister says he barely knew some of the most active Liberal fundraisers in his home province. Just how stupid does he think Canadians really are?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, members of the Conservative Party might recall an incident in the last election campaign where they made horrendous assertions against the Prime Minister and they paid a very important political price for that.

The Prime Minister's testimony is on the record with respect to Mr. Boulay. He stands by that testimony.

I think we are all best advised to let Mr. Justice Gomery review all of the facts of this matter to get to the bottom of it in a thorough independent way. When we have his judgment, when we have his view of what transpired, then we can all draw conclusions.

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Central Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, those are more desperate attempts at distraction from the Liberal Party.

Claude Boulay says he worked on the Prime Minister's 1990 leadership fund. He was at the 1993 election campaign. In fact in the 1993 campaign Mr. Boulay claims he met with the Prime Minister a couple of times a week, and his wife met with him daily at times during that campaign. They dined together at the Boulay home, yet the Prime Minister says it was a casual acquaintance.

Is it not the real truth that the only casual acquaintance the Prime Minister is having is with the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

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

Mr. Speaker, the fact is that what Madame Deslauriers said is that 12 years ago she hosted a brunch, a thank you brunch for campaign volunteers after the election.

The fact is that the Prime Minister has said in his testimony that he met Mr. Boulay occasionally as part of groups at political functions. That is entirely consistent because that was a political function. The Prime Minister is being completely honest, unlike that party which compared the Prime Minister of Canada to a mass murderer and a terrorist.

[Jay Hill, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister had every opportunity during his remarks last night to clear up some of these glaring contradictions between his testimony and others.

The Prime Minister said that he only met the Boulays in 1990 and that their relationship was “short term”. He said, and I also quote, “I did make his acquaintance at the beginning of the leadership in 1990 but it didn't last for long”. Yet the Boulays both testified that they worked extremely closely with the Prime Minister on his 1993 campaign.

Why did the Prime Minister mislead the Gomery inquiry?

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

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is a very successful politician. The fact is the Prime Minister has been involved in a number of very successful campaigns. Part of successful campaigns is having a large number of good organizers involved in them.

They are trying to make a mountain out of a molehill. They spent most of the week talking about birthday greetings from a Prime Minister who sends out 50,000 of them a year.

It is important to remember what the member for Prince George--Peace River said last year, “If we took action to remove a person every time someone is accused of something, there wouldn't be many politicians in this country”. He was defending a colleague at that time.

[Jay Hill, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I think it is pretty sad when the Prime Minister and his ministers equate being a successful politician with the fact that they are avoiding answering these types of questions.

When asked about his relationship with Claude Boulay and his wife Diane Deslauriers, the Prime Minister said, “I do not know Mr. Boulay very well, nor do I know Ms. Deslauriers very well”. Ms. Deslauriers, however, testified under oath yesterday that she worked every day with the Prime Minister on his 1993 campaign, that they were like family.

Can the Prime Minister explain the glaring contradiction in his sworn testimony?

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

Mr. Speaker, Ms. Deslauriers said that the campaign organization felt like a big family. That is a big difference from what the member is inferring. Mr. Boulay said in fact that he never met with the Prime Minister one on one, only at political functions. That is entirely true.

The opposition members are once again misrepresenting daily testimony. They are taking selectively from testimony to support their own narrow partisan argument. That is the true dishonesty. Our Prime Minister is interested in the truth and he stands with Canadians to support Justice Gomery.

1995 Referendum

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, for the former director general of the Quebec wing of the Liberal party, it is clear that the government broke Quebec law during the 1995 referendum. Benoît Corbeil has said that the $4.8 million Ottawa paid to Option Canada, and never accounted for by the No campaign, was used to organize the Montreal “love-in”.

In connection with the sponsorships, the Prime Minister said “I was Minister of Finance, and needed to be more vigilant. Public money was misdirected and misused”.

Will he now recognize that he was equally negligent with Option Canada, which used Ottawa's money to break Quebec law?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, every bit of evidence on the public record indicates that the contracts that the hon. gentleman referred to were properly handled through the Department of Public Works according to the ordinary competitive processes.

If there are any questions left to be determined beyond that, that is why we have a judicial inquiry that will determine all of the facts to the satisfaction of all Canadians.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, an odd reply from a minister from whom I requested an investigation into the sponsorship scandal. Here in this House, that minister told me such a thing was pointless, and accused me of lacking confidence in the Auditor General and the RCMP. That was what he said then, but now he has changed his tune.

He has misunderstood. I was not asking about the Prime Minister's contracts. I was talking about Option Canada, and the untraceable $4.8 million used illegally during the 1995 referendum. This was under the direction of Claude Dauphin, the present PM's right-hand man.

What is his comment on this? Will the Prime Minister admit that he was negligent here as well?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, if there are any such allegations to be made with respect to any of the contracts referring to advertising or sponsorships, that is precisely the mandate of the Gomery inquiry. That is the way to determine the facts, independently and fairly.

I think it is obvious in a political forum such as this, on one side or the other, there are political interests to be advanced. That is not where the issues can be determined, such as those in front of Judge Gomery. He is the one who can make an independent and fair judgment.

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

Mr. Speaker, Option Canada, a not-for-profit organization funded by the taxpayers' money, was created by the Council for Canadian Unity. Option Canada has been identified as being at the centre of the Liberal network. That organization was knowingly in violation of the Quebec referendum legislation in spending $4.8 million on behalf of the No campaign.

Can the Prime Minister, who was at that time Minister of Finance and vice-president of the Treasury Board, confirm that Option Canada was the vehicle used to violate and trample over Quebec's referendum legislation?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, if Mr. Corbeil or anyone else has allegations to make of this nature, they are properly made to Judge Gomery. Judge Gomery will determine the facts.

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

Mr. Speaker, will the Prime Minister admit that Option Canada provides us with one more illustration of the extent of that Liberal network identified by the former director general of the Quebec wing of the Liberal Party of Canada, Benoît Corbeil?