Debates of April 7th, 2005

Agriculture

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the agriculture minister is up to his usual bloated announcement tricks and provincial ministers know it.

Our party has been demanding that the government address the problem of older animals for livestock producers who have been devastated by the BSE crisis. As well, we have been calling on the government to properly support grain, oilseed and cash crop growers across this country who have had to endure three consecutive crop disasters and depressed commodity prices.

Not even one province has signed on to this new agriculture program. It is a failure. What the industry really needs is simply for the minister and the corrupt government to step aside and let the professionals, the Conservative Party of Canada, do the job that Canadian farmers and Canadian taxpayers so desperately deserve.

Unlike the member for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, who habitually votes against the interests of farmers and only talks about farmers after dead stock is left on the driveway, members from this side will always stand up for farmers and will continue to fight the government to ensure that farmers' interests are heard.

Immigration

[Wajid Khan, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Mr. Speaker, after years of making anti-immigrant statements, the Conservatives are now trying to cast themselves as pro-immigrant. How ironic.

A Conservative member recently admitted before a parliamentary committee to accepting personal guarantees of $50,000 from constituents to help them obtain a visitor's visa.

This is unfair and unethical. What this says is that if a person can afford a member's support then welcome to Canada but, if not, then do not bother applying.

To make matters worse, the Leader of the Opposition threatened legal action yesterday against a minister over the debacle.

May I remind the House that the statement made by the Conservative member in question can be found in official committee transcripts.

I find it appalling that when the member for Newton--North Delta came into this country seeking opportunity they closed the door behind him.

Loretteville Knights of Columbus

[Bernard Cleary, Bloc, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to recognize the fortieth anniversary of the Montcalm Council of the Loretteville Knights of Columbus, which has 370 members. The council collects and distributes over $25,000 every year in cash or food donations.

It also gets involved in the community by holding various activities. In this context, I want to mention the flea market, an event that will be held from May 21 to 24, 2005, and which is very important to the community I represent.

On behalf of all my constituents in the riding of Louis-Saint-Laurent and myself, I want to thank the Grand Knight, Mr. Jacques Parent, his collaborators and the volunteers who work each year to bring people together and make our community more vibrant.

Sponsorship Program

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Central Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, now that the publication ban at the Gomery commission has been partially lifted and the stench and the rot of corruption is starting to leak out, I would like to ask the Prime Minister if he is prepared to disclose whether there are senior members of the staff of ministerial offices who have been released or taken a leave of absence as a result of being implicated in the sponsorship scandal, and will he list those names?

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

Mr. Speaker, first, the Gomery commission was established by the Prime Minister so we could get to the bottom of what happened.

I also want to remind the hon. member that it was our party that had counsel present this morning and argued in front of Mr. Justice Gomery for the raising of the publication ban. We want as much testimony as possible on the public record, unlike the opposition members who seem keen on taking bits of testimony out of context and destroying people's reputations. We are arguing for as much testimony as possible in the public domain. Let Mr. Gomery finish his work and let us get his report.

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Central Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, there is a mountain of evidence that the Liberal government is involved in a criminal conspiracy of the like never seen in this country before.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Central Nova I know will want to choose his words very carefully. Suggesting that there is some kind of conspiracy going on among any members of the House that is of a criminal nature he knows would be out of order and improper. He will want to watch his language extremely carefully in his questions or we will move on to the next question.

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Central Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, Groupe Everest employees have pointed out that the Prime Minister himself was setting up meetings to end Groupaction's monopoly and divvy up lucrative sponsorship contracts.

The Prime Minister has acted in this way before on behalf of Groupaction. He intervened in 1994 in the national unity fund contract. His office actively campaigned to have Groupe Everest added to the list of advertising agencies.

How can the Prime Minister continue to deny knowledge--

[The Speaker]

The hon. Deputy Prime Minister.

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

Mr. Speaker, what that hon. member has just said in relation to the Prime Minister is absolutely untrue. Here we have another example of what the opposition does. It takes unsubstantiated allegations, it takes fragments of testimony and information and it does not care whose reputation it destroys. What we are interested in--

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Central Nova.

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Central Nova, NS]

Mr. Speaker, that feigned outrage is not cutting it anymore. There is evidence the Prime Minister was involved in spreading the dirty money around.

There are documents from the Quebec chief electoral officer to prove that the Parti Québécois got thousands of dollars from at least seven Groupaction employees, who were apparently reimbursed afterward by their employer.

Can the Prime Minister assure us that none of the money paid out by the sponsorship program went to bankroll the separatists' agenda?

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

Mr. Speaker, the leader of the Conservative Party calls the witnesses liars. His deputy leader describes the testimony as hogwash. They are engaging in petty politics.

There is one politician who wants to get to the bottom of all this, our Prime Minister. He appointed Justice Gomery and fully supports what he is doing.

[Stockwell Day, Conservative, Okanagan—Coquihalla, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is very clear now, and we have information, that over the last two years at least seven employees of Groupaction generously donated to the Parti Québécois and some of the money indeed may well have been used and funnelled through the sponsorship fund.

The Prime Minister can tone down the temperature of all of this if we could simply get this assurance, that not one cent of taxpayer money was used to fund the Parti Québecois in its fight to break up our country. Could we just get that assurance?

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

Mr. Speaker, once again, these are unproven allegations. These are not facts. We will not have the facts until Justice Gomery provides us with his report.

The Prime Minister and the government have been very clear that we will get to the bottom of this. Anyone who has taken part in malfeasance for personal gain will face the full extent of Canadian law. That will be done because the Prime Minister is committed to getting to the bottom of this issue.

[Stockwell Day, Conservative, Okanagan—Coquihalla, BC]

Again, no specific response, Mr. Speaker.

Once he was backed into a corner, the Prime Minister promised that the Liberal Party would pay the dirty sponsorship money back to the Canadian taxpayers.

Will the Prime Minister also make a commitment to pay back the sponsorship money that went to finance the Quebec separatists?

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

Mr. Speaker, the party and the government have made it clear: we want to get to the bottom of this. If the party did receive funds from agencies or individuals found to be guilty, it will reimburse the taxpayers willingly.

It is, however, impossible to do anything without all the facts. We must wait for Justice Gomery's report.

[Michel Gauthier, Bloc, Roberval, QC]

Mr. Speaker, according to the testimony of Jean Brault, between 1995 and 2002, the owner of Groupaction and his businesses paid $2.2 million in tainted money to the Liberal Party, which forms the government.

In light of such serious revelations about the Groupaction connection, I ask the Prime Minister if he intends to return the $2.2 million to its rightful owner.

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

Mr. Speaker, now that there have been allegations that the Parti Québécois received improper funding, perhaps the Bloc will agree with us: it is not appropriate to consider these allegations facts; the truth is what we need. We must wait for Justice Gomery's report.

[Michel Gauthier, Bloc, Roberval, QC]

Mr. Speaker, let us talk about the real issues. It has been revealed that, in order to get that $2.2 million, the Liberal Party of Canada made use of political contributions, cash, phony invoices, falsified professional fees, the payment of Liberal Party bills, and the hiring of people who never worked for Groupaction but did work for the Liberal Party.

Is the government going to reimburse the $2 million in tainted money?

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

Mr. Speaker, the Bloc mentions only allegations damaging to the Liberals or the federalists. There are allegations that the Parti Québécois also received inappropriate funds.

Why is the Bloc not asking questions about that? It is clear that the Bloc is only interested in tarnishing the reputation of federalists and in destroying Canada.

[Michel Gauthier, Bloc, Roberval, QC]

Mr. Speaker, what we want to destroy is the corruption that has taken over this government. That is what we want to destroy.

Jean Brault was getting annoyed by demands for funding from all sides, so he made an arrangement with Jacques Corriveau of the Liberal Party. Since 1998, Corriveau has received, on behalf of the Liberal Party, 10% of the 12% commission paid to Groupaction on every Polygone-Expour contract. This well oiled system provided him alone with half a million dollars—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker]

Order! I am sorry to interrupt the hon. member for Roberval—Lac-Saint-Jean. The hon. Minister of Public Works and Government Services.