House of Commons Hansard #49 of the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was hunting.
The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken
It is obvious there is a lot of enthusiasm for the answer, but we have to be able to hear it. The President of the Treasury Board has the floor so we will have a little order, please.
John Baird Conservative Ottawa West—Nepean, ON
Mr. Speaker, it is a little rich. Every day we get another lecture on ethics from the Liberal Party, a party whose own internal report says it has lost all credibility with the people of Canada. Those are not my words. Those are the words of an internal Liberal report released on September 10.
What I can say is that no political actors were involved in the awarding of this contract. The very moment it was brought to my attention, I ordered the contract terminated. No further work would be done nor charged to the taxpayer.
Mark Holland Liberal Ajax—Pickering, ON
Mr. Speaker, I hope the member is tethered, because he always gets very upset at the supplementaries.
I see it is still payday for the Conservative Party headquarters. The minister should table every page of the so-called work done on this two-week, $13,000 contract that should never have been awarded. The only thing I can see that Canadians got for this expensive PR advice is a minister who refuses to answer questions.
When will the Treasury Board president repay every cent of the $13,000 he slopped in the trough of a Conservative Party friend, Marie-Josée Lapointe?
John Baird ConservativePresident of the Treasury Board
Mr. Speaker, I would say to the member opposite that this is an individual I do not believe I have ever met. It is an individual for which no political actor had involvement in awarding the contract. I can say that we will be judged on how we deal with these challenges as they present themselves. The minute it came to my attention, it was immediately cancelled.
I do have a number of very interesting memos, though, from the previous government. I have a memo here from David Dingwall to the Hon. Ralph Goodale, saying that contracting undertaken by Agriculture Canada itself has been abused. When will the members opposite pay back the money they stole--
The Speaker Liberal Peter Milliken
Order, please. I remind all hon. members that other hon. members must be referred to by their title or constituency name rather than by name. I think this may have escaped the memory of the President of the Treasury Board at that particular moment.
The hon. member for Mississauga—Brampton South.
Navdeep Bains Liberal Mississauga—Brampton South, ON
Mr. Speaker, the President of the Treasury Board refuses to answer questions about Conservative insiders using their connections to benefit their clients. A long list of Conservative insiders, including Goldy Hyder and Bill Pristanski, are making money using their influence with the government. In fact, both have contributed to the minister's last election campaign.
Specifically, Mr. Pristanski was registered to lobby the Treasury Board. This conflict falls squarely on the shoulders of the Treasury Board president. When will his government stop allowing its friends to use their influence?
John Baird ConservativePresident of the Treasury Board
Mr. Speaker, we were very clear in the last election campaign. We wanted to reform the Lobbyists Registration Act in a way that had never been done in Canadian history, to make it the most accountable and transparent in Canadian history, and in fact, one of the most transparent and accountable in the world.
We want to do two things. We want to ban anyone who has worked in a minister's office from lobbying for five years, including the minister himself or herself. We also want to make it the law that one has to record every single contact with a lobbyist. The lobbyists would have to do the same thing.
I say to the Liberal members opposite, why are they standing in the way of reforming our lobbyists registration system? Why are the Liberal members of the Senate not passing the federal accountability act?
Navdeep Bains Liberal Mississauga—Brampton South, ON
Mr. Speaker, clearly the President of the Treasury Board suffers from accountability deficit disorder. Yesterday the Treasury Board president admitted to a long list of mistakes he made when he served Mike Harris in Ontario, so why will he not admit today that allowing Conservative insiders to profit from their connections is wrong?
Not only is it wrong, but the Conservatives are breaking a key promise made in the Speech from the Throne. Why?
John Baird ConservativePresident of the Treasury Board
Mr. Speaker, it is this government whose first legislation was to table the federal accountability act, which would make the practice of lobbying more transparent, more accountable and more open to public scrutiny. It is the Liberal Party that at the committee tried to water it down, and now, as we speak, the Liberal Senate is seeking to delay this from passing into law.
Maybe while the member opposite is on his feet he could explain why the leader of the Liberal Party appointed a registered lobbyist to his own transition team, a current registered lobbyist working in the PMO. Who was he working for, the public interest or the private interests of his--
Maria Mourani Bloc Ahuntsic, QC
Mr. Speaker, the Women's Program, which is set to terminate on September 26, is still underway. The criteria are the same as in the past. Women's' groups have been submitting their applications for weeks, not to say months. We are told that the public servants completed their portion of the work several weeks ago.
Why has the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women left these applications unanswered, while groups such as the National Association of Women and the Law are being forced to close their doors, due to lack of funding?
Bev Oda ConservativeMinister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women
Mr. Speaker, the real issue here is the need for real action for women and children.
Unlike the former Liberal government that studied and studied and consulted for years, we believe that we have to act now. We will act on protecting women against violence. We will ensure that children have safe homes to grow up in. We will help older women escape poverty. We will ensure that immigrant women are able to use their foreign credentials to contribute to Canadian society.
Our new government will act and make a difference in the lives of women.
Christian Ouellet Bloc Brome—Missisquoi, QC
Mr. Speaker, the previous government extended the supporting communities partnership initiative by one year. That extension will end on March 31, 2007. If something is not done right now, many services will be disrupted. Homelessness groups need recurrent funding to help people in crisis situations and to offer them lasting solutions.
Does the Prime Minister intend to continue funding for homelessness beyond March 31, 2007 and allocate envelopes—
Gary Lunn ConservativeMinister of Natural Resources
Mr. Speaker, I can tell the House that at the conclusion of the last government there was an independent audit done by the secretariat to review all of the programs. They were evaluated based on their merit. A number of those programs were cut.
We are bringing forward programs that we believe will be accountable to Canadians. We will deliver results and not send money to Liberal Party insiders.
Maka Kotto Bloc Saint-Lambert, QC
Mr. Speaker, several organizations submitted funding applications 11 months ago to the Minister of Canadian Heritage and are still waiting for an answer. They are desperate and some are living on credit or loans from members of their board of directors.
Does the minister agree that taking more than one year to provide confirmation of an annual grant is no longer a reasonable period of time but rather an excessive, even absurd amount of time?
Bev Oda ConservativeMinister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women
Mr. Speaker, as the House knows, this government got elected because it wanted to deliver accountability and value for taxpayers' dollars.
We are reviewing all the programs to ensure that we can deliver for Canadians the services and the direct help that people need. All of our programs are under review. We will ensure that funds are used to serve those they were intended to serve.
Maka Kotto Bloc Saint-Lambert, QC
Mr. Speaker, that has nothing to do with my question.
Cultural and social groups are struggling. Short of money, women's advocacy groups have ceased operations; amounts earmarked for feature films have not risen in seven years; the present feature film policy is outdated; Quebec film and museums are underfunded; and the Copyright Act has been obsolete for ten years.
In view of the number of urgent issues accumulating, what is the minister waiting for to take action?
Bev Oda ConservativeMinister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women
Mr. Speaker, as members can appreciate, there has been so much waste and mismanagement that there was a review of all the programs Canadians deserve. We must also ensure that we are not going to just continue the survival of organizations, but that we are going to help those we are intending to help, not only women, children, our creators, filmmakers and producers. So much of that money was wasted and we want to ensure it is maximized to those who need it.
Stephen Owen Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
Mr. Speaker, the Conservative minority government believes it is above the law. Members of the Prime Minister's political staff, including his director of communications, have illegally received the name of a reporter who filed a confidential access to information request. This is not only improper, it is against the law.
The Prime Minister has promised to get tough with people who break the law. Will he start with his own staff?
Stockwell Day ConservativeMinister of Public Safety
Mr. Speaker, the government takes very seriously privacy of information in legislation and the ability of anyone to ask for that information without their name being revealed.
I found out about the incident just today. I immediately asked my officials to look into the matter and to get all the details. I have been in touch with the commissioner's office and when I have all the details, I will immediately share those.
I will work together with the commissioner's office to ensure that this legislation, which is good and proper, is upheld with the spirit and the letter of the law.
Stephen Owen Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
Mr. Speaker, I thank the minister for his response. We look forward to that information and I thank him.
It is important to understand that the Prime Minister's director of communications, who illegally received the information identifying the reporter, is the very person who decides what reporters get to ask questions of the Prime Minister.
Even more important, did the Prime Minister also illegally receive this information?
John Baird ConservativePresident of the Treasury Board
Mr. Speaker, Canada's new government takes the issue of the privacy of Canadians very, very seriously. We will first look into the facts and confirm that the facts are as they have been suggested, and if they are cause for concern.
Earlier this afternoon I spoke with the Privacy Commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart, and asked to sit down with her tomorrow to discuss this important issue.
Marlene Jennings Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC
Mr. Speaker, this minority Conservative government is mocking our Canadian laws. Now we understand why journalists have to get their names in the Prime Minister's little black book before they can ask him any questions.
This morning, we found out that the Prime Minister's Director of Communications gets the names of people who make access to information requests.
Will the Prime Minister ask his Director of Communications to resign immediately?