Debates of Feb. 29th, 2008

Airbus

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform]

Mr. Speaker, the government asked Professor Johnston to undertake a third-party review of the matter and to make recommendations concerning a public inquiry and its mandate.

We are waiting for the final report of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics so that Professor Johnston can finish his work and make recommendations concerning the public inquiry.

[Carole Lavallée, Bloc, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, that is where the government is making a mistake. It must not wait for the final report. The Prime Minister promised to launch his public inquiry as soon as the committee hearings ended. If he wants to keep his promise, he must launch the inquiry now. Otherwise, we will think he does not intend to keep his word.

Does the Prime Minister realize that he has to give this commission the broadest possible mandate in order to shed light on the Airbus transactions, which have cast a cloud of suspicion over the Conservative government?

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform]

Mr. Speaker, we have said that Professor Johnston wants to look at the report of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics. Opposition members justified our work and said that it had to be done to help the public inquiry. We are therefore waiting for the committee's final report.

Ethics

[Yasmin Ratansi, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister claimed there was absolutely no truth to the story that Mr. Cadman was offered life insurance benefits to change his vote, but Mr. Cadman's daughter Jodi says the offer was indeed made, and her mother Dona confirms the story.

Why is the Conservative government dishonouring the reputation of the Cadman family by suggesting all three family members were liars?

[James Moore, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services and for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics]

Mr. Speaker, it was not just the Prime Minister who said that no offer was made. Chuck Cadman also made the statement on May 21, 2005. I will be glad to table this in the House if my colleague does not think I am reading it correctly.

Tara Nelson of Global television asked the question of Chuck Cadman, “You had a meeting with the Prime Minister prior to the vote, did he ever offer you a deal?” He said, “No, absolutely nothing. There was never any deal--”. She asked, “And the same with Harper?” He said, “Yeah, same with Harper.”

[Yasmin Ratansi, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Mr. Speaker, what is pathetic is that this Prime Minister wraps himself in accountability, but yesterday the Prime Minister and the junior public works minister tried to discredit Chuck Cadman's widow.

Why would Dona Cadman make up a story about Conservatives offering her husband a bribe? And Jodi Cadman is also confirming this million dollar bribe.

Have they no shame? Why would members of the Chuck Cadman family lie?

[James Moore, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services and for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics]

Mr. Speaker, why would the member opposite, the day after she gave a standing ovation saying that Chuck Cadman is an honourable man, now get up in the House and essentially call Chuck Cadman a liar? That is the question that I have for the member opposite.

She is alleging something here that is in fact not true. Chuck Cadman said on the record twice in national televised interviews that no offer was made.

I think my colleague from Don Valley knew Chuck Cadman and she knew him well enough that he would not mislead about this. He was honest. He was clear. He was direct. He told the clear truth. No offer was made. Accept the truth.

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Ajax—Pickering, ON]

Mr. Speaker, is the parliamentary secretary saying that he had lied to his family? That Dona Cadman was a liar? Is that what he is saying in this House?

When MPs leave public office, they are allowed to take their life insurance policy and convert it into a private one, through Industrial Alliance Insurance. They are able to go through this conversion process to update and adjust benefits without having to take a medical. It is very costly, but possible.

Can the minister confirm that the documents that Doug Finley and Tom Flanagan prepared for Chuck Cadman were from Industrial Alliance Insurance and that their offer was to have the Conservative Party assume payments for a million dollar payout?

[James Moore, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services and for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics]

Mr. Speaker, no Liberal farce is ever fully complete without a cameo appearance by the member for Ajax—Pickering. So, here we go.

The reality is Chuck Cadman said that no offer was made. He has made that very clear. My colleague should accept Chuck Cadman's word and just accept the truth.

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Ajax—Pickering, ON]

Mr. Speaker, our question is not about the May 19 meeting. The question is about what happened on May 17, the date two Conservative operatives met with Chuck Cadman in his parliamentary office to present him with a million dollar bribe.

Will the Prime Minister admit now what he has already admitted on tape in 2005, that there was a bribe, that they tried to buy a vote, buy this parliament, and that they will do anything, break any rule, bribe anyone for power?

[James Moore, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services and for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics]

Mr. Speaker, I think the member is looking in the mirror when he is making that description. We know what happened with the Liberals on that budget vote, with the member for Newmarket—Aurora, who all of a sudden found herself in cabinet voting in favour of the Liberal budget.

Our government and our party made no offer to Chuck Cadman that was in any way inappropriate. We had a desire to have Chuck Cadman rejoin the Conservative Party.

The member for Ajax—Pickering is doing what he usually does. He takes a little bit from here, a little bit from there, tries to mash it together into some kind of conspiracy and, as usual, he falls flat on his face. He is going to do so again on this file.

Afghanistan

[David Sweet, Conservative, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON]

Mr. Speaker, there is news this morning that Canadian Forces have resumed transferring Taliban prisoners to the Afghan authorities. These transfers had been stopped last November because of concerns the military had about the conditions in Afghan prisons.

The Liberals had feigned interest on this issue in the past but today, it is not politically expedient to ask a question.

Would the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence tell the House why the Canadian military has resumed transferring Taliban prisoners? What changes have been made to assure that these prisoners will be handled in a manner that is consistent with Afghanistan's international obligations?

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, I can confirm that the military has announced in theatre this morning that an operational decision has been made to resume the transfer of Taliban prisoners. The transfer agreement we have with the Afghan government remains in place and it is working. The decision to transfer prisoners remains an operational matter made by the military commanders on a case by case basis in the field.

Since last November, well over $1 million has been spent improving conditions in the prisons that hold Canadian transferred prisoners. Guards and police have received training. Canadian officials have increased their monitoring visits to the prisoners. The Canadian Forces are confident these changes have addressed the issues at hand and they will continue to monitor the situation.

Veterans Affairs

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

Mr. Speaker, in June 2005, the then opposition leader and now Prime Minister promised Joyce Carter, a widow from Cape Breton, that if the Conservatives formed government, they would immediately extend the VIP to all widows of Word War II and Korean veterans.

In the first two budgets there was absolutely nothing. In this budget there is one-third of what is required, meaning that 70% of the widows of Word War II and Korean veterans will not qualify.

Joyce Carter of Cape Breton is watching TV now. Will someone in the government please stand up, face the camera, and tell--

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Order. The hon. parliamentary secretary.

[Betty Hinton, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, we are now allocating almost $800 million a year more than what the Liberals budgeted for in their last year in office. In three budgets the Conservative government has allocated $1.6 billion more for our veterans.

We have also delivered on our promise to implement the new veterans charter, establish a bill of rights for veterans, appoint a veterans ombudsman, and resolve the long standing agent orange issue.

I might also note that the member who has just spoken did not support any of those initiatives.

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

Mr. Speaker, that is rather hypocritical coming from that bunch of political sycophants. When the NDP moved the veterans first motion, which would have helped every veteran and his or her family in this country, that was the only party to vote against it. Shame on the Conservatives.

The reality is that they denied many people agent orange compensation. They changed the rules. They promised everyone and they misled them. They said the system of clawbacks would end when they formed government. Now they have misled 70% of these widows. These widows were the caregivers of our greatest heroes.

Why did this government deliberately mislead Mrs. Carter and all the widows in this country?

[Betty Hinton, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I am very proud of the fact that last year we added 12,000 veterans and their widows to the VIP. This year we have added another 12,000 with the $282 million we have put forward in the budget.

The sad record of the NDP is quite clear. Those members voted against the ex gratia payments for agent orange. They voted against doubling our operational stress injury clinics. They voted against hiring front line staff. They voted against funding for the veterans ombudsman and they voted against the veterans bill of rights.

That gentleman should sit down.

Ethics

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Mr. Speaker, let us be clear. We are looking for more information about a meeting held on May 17, 2005, between two Conservative staff members and Mr. Cadman.

Will the government confirm that Mr. Finley and Mr. Flanagan met with Chuck Cadman in his office on May 17, and will it confirm, as the Prime Minister did on a recording, that he knew about the $1 million bribe?

[James Moore, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services and for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics]

Mr. Speaker, there was a meeting because we wanted Mr. Cadman to join our political party. That is all that was discussed. My colleague and the Liberal Party are fabricating this story. It is clear that there was no financial offer. Mr. Cadman himself said that no offer was made. Mr. Cadman said so himself and we should take him at his word.

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Mr. Speaker, when a journalist asked the Prime Minister about the $1 million insurance policy offered to Chuck Cadman, he did not reply, “What insurance policy?” He did not say, “There was no insurance policy.” Instead, the Prime Minister confirmed that he knew there had been discussions and then asked whether his comments would be published.

If there was no bribe, why did the Prime Minister not just say so? Why did the Prime Minister not simply deny that fact?

[James Moore, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services and for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics]

Mr. Speaker, talking about media interviews on this file, there were in fact two media interviews for which there is video and they are clear. They are unedited. They are out there and available for my colleague to view.

There were three people who were at this meeting: Tom Flanagan, Doug Finley and Chuck Cadman. All three of them have said that no offer was made that was in any way inappropriate.

In fact, one of the interviews was done by Global National's Tara Nelson where Chuck Cadman said, “There was never any deal offered”. The other interview was on CTV's Mike Duffy Live on May 19, 2005 where he said, “There were no offers”. That was from Chuck Cadman and those were his words.

[Garth Turner, Liberal, Halton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, when I was a Conservative member of Parliament before that party threw me out, I heard the Prime Minister--

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

Order. Order. I am sure the hon. member for Halton appreciates all the help with his question, but we have to be able to hear it and not the other questions. The hon. member for Halton has the floor.