Debates of May 3rd, 2005

The Budget

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister himself knew this was not the right budget when he tabled it less than two months ago.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker]

Order. I am sure the Leader of the Opposition appreciates the encouragement, but the Prime Minister has to be able to hear the question so he can provide a response.

The Leader of the Opposition has the floor. We will hear the question.

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Calgary Southwest, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has announced $8 billion worth of new budgetary measures sponsored by the NDP. There is $4.5 billion in spending and $3.5 billion in tax cuts removed.

When will the Prime Minister bring his new budget to Parliament for a vote?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I simply remind the Leader of the Opposition that the budget that he is now decrying, with the additions this is the budget that the hon. member less than a month ago supported.

We have seen the Leader of the Opposition flip-flop on every single issue, but I have to say in this particular instance, he set his own personal record.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker]

Order. I sense there is a lot of enthusiasm in the House today, but we do have to have a little order so we can hear the questions and the responses. It is almost impossible for the Chair to hear; I do not know how other hon. members can.

We will have a little order please, while the Leader of the Opposition asks his next question.

[Stephen Harper, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, I do not know what planet the Prime Minister is on as his career spirals down the toilet.

This party was not part of that budget deal and it would never be so fiscally irresponsible.

Will the Prime Minister continue to play hide and seek with his budget? When will he hold a vote here in the House on his new NDP budget?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I would ask the Leader of the Opposition what he did on Friday, April 22.

The hon. member forgets the fact that the budget implementation bill was up for debate on Friday, April 22. Instead of engaging in that debate what did the Leader of the Opposition do? He engaged once more in petty politics, putting his own partisan interests ahead of the interests of Canadians.

He cannot stand up in the House now and speak. He has already blown it.

[Monte Solberg, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

Mr. Speaker, that is pretty rich coming from a guy who would sell his own soul to save his political skin. That is exactly what he did.

Here is what Nancy Hughes Anthony recently said about the budget:

The government's decision to rescind its commitment to tax relief for all businesses will threaten Canada's credibility--

A few weeks ago the finance minister told us that reducing the tax burden for business was essential for creating jobs and that the budget could not be changed. He had barely finished saying that when the Prime Minister came from behind, knocked him over the head and the NDP later came and stole his budget and ripped out the tax cuts. What is the Prime Minister--

[The Speaker]

The hon. Minister of Finance.

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, the budget on February 23 included a number of very important tax measures--

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker]

Order. The hon. member for Medicine Hat has asked a question and he is sitting there aching for an answer. We will have a little calm and quiet please, so that members can hear the Minister of Finance give his response to the member for Medicine Hat.

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Wascana, SK]

Mr. Speaker, the budget on February 23 included a number of very important tax measures. Those are embodied to the large part in Bill C-43. The vast majority of those remain fully engaged in Bill C-43. There are two measures that will be put into a separate piece of legislation and voted upon separately.

The fact of the matter is we intend to proceed with the tax relief as and when this House is prepared to support it. That was moving on quite well until 10 days ago, until the Leader of the Opposition--

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Medicine Hat.

[Monte Solberg, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I guess I should have asked that of the leader of the NDP.

Tom d'Aquino recently said that the deal would sacrifice Canada's ability to foster more high paying jobs. We know the NDP does not like high paying jobs.

The Prime Minister sold out fiscal responsibility, job creation, and the finance minister himself just to form a coalition with the socialists. Those are the actions of a desperate man.

Why does the finance minister allow himself to get used, abused, and then thrown aside by his own boss, the Prime Minister?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to say since we balanced the budget in 1997, after 27 years of deficits largely created by the party opposite, after we balanced the budget, we have the best debt to GDP ratio in the G-7, the best job creation record in the G-7, the fastest growth in living standards in the G-7, the only balanced budgets in the G-7, and the best fiscal performance since 1867, and that will not be jeopardized.

Government Contracts

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in the Earnscliffe matter, Warren Kinsella's notes are quite specific.

In October 1994, David Dingwall informed the Prime Minister's Office of what he referred to as the finance minister's “problem”. In November of that same year, David Dingwall spoke directly to the Minister of Finance to tell him that he knew about the contracts illegally awarded to Earnscliffe. In the end, following intervention by the current Prime Minister, Earnscliffe still got the contract.

Warren Kinsella's description is highly detailed. Will the Prime Minister finally admit that Earnscliffe is his own personal sponsorship scandal?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, a simple repetition of the same old allegations does not make those allegations true. The fact of the matter is there is nothing new in what the hon. gentleman has referred to.

All the evidence on the public record would indicate that the appropriate procedures at the time were followed and the arguments made then by the then minister of finance were to increase competition, not reduce it.

[Gilles Duceppe, Bloc, Laurier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the response from the Minister of Finance reminds me of the answers Alfonso Gagliano used to defend Jean Chrétien.

The Prime Minister is the one who defined the terms of reference of the Gomery commission. He is the one who voluntarily restricted the scope of the inquiry solely to the sponsorship and advertising program, excluding public opinion research contracts, which just happens to be Earnscliffe's specialty.

Will the Prime Minister admit that he himself ensured that the Gomery commission would not review the contracts awarded to Earnscliffe, in short, that he was careful to prevent the public inquiry from considering his own personal sponsorship scandal?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, once again I would refer the hon. gentleman to the external audit conducted by Ernst & Young in 1996, and the internal audit conducted by the Auditor General of Canada reported in the year 2003, both of which indicate that the polling activities of the government were handled properly and that the appropriate procedures were followed.

[Benoît Sauvageau, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance has referred to two incomplete reports, but according to Warren Kinsella, the former finance minister and his office had a major role in the awarding of contracts to Earnscliffe, and they intervened numerous times to force other ministers to favour Earnscliffe too.

How does the Prime Minister explain the fact that Mr. Kinsella confirmed in a memo that Earnscliffe, which was partially owned by Michael Robinson, who co-directed the current Prime Minister's first leadership campaign, received $615,000 in irregular contracts in 1995 alone?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, again I would challenge the hon. gentleman on the facts. There is nothing in the information that he has referred to and nothing on the public record that would indicate anything but the fact that the appropriate rules were followed. Where the office of the former minister of finance made representations, they were made to increase competition, not to decrease it.

[Benoît Sauvageau, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Mr. Speaker, many of the former finance minister's friends and collaborators have ties to Earnscliffe, a company which received favours from the finance minister and the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, and which was headed at the time by the current Minister of Finance.

Does the Prime Minister deny that his numerous ties to Earnscliffe and his heavy involvement in the awarding of contracts led to his being nicknamed the octopus by David Dingwall, former minister of Public Works?