Pursuant to Standing Order 93, the recorded division stands deferred until Wednesday, December 2, 2009, immediately before the time provided for private members' business.

A motion to adjourn the House under Standing Order 38 deemed to have been moved.

7:10 p.m.

Liberal

Paul Szabo Liberal Mississauga South, ON

Madam Speaker, the government has been stonewalling on issues I have raised about the ethical conduct of the Minister of Natural Resources and has been basically saying it is going to wait until the Ethics Commissioner reports. However, we all know that the Ethics Commissioner can only report with regard to the Conflict of interest Act.

It is solely the Prime Minister who can judge a minister's ethical performance under his guidelines for ministers. We used to have an ethics counsellor between the Prime Minister and the ministers themselves, but now it is totally the Prime Minister's call.

To remind members, we are talking about a Minister of Natural Resources who had a political fundraiser which utilized the resources of the Toronto Port Authority, a federal authority. It was confirmed in writing by the president and CEO of the Toronto Port Authority that, in fact, it happened and that it had taken corrective action. However, the board never responded and it has a responsibility here.

There is also the issue of the Minister of Natural Resources, as president and CEO at the time, signing an expense report, which is to be signed exclusively by the chair of the board, but the minister signed it herself. On the bottom it read, “Chair refused to sign”, but she signed it anyway.

There were two other expense reports that were reimbursed but were not authorized by the chairman of the board. There was a $9,000 lunch for 50 people, about $180 per person. The most expensive meal on the entire menu at that restaurant is only $80. After taking off the tip, it looks like half of the money was spent on alcohol.

The board is dysfunctional. It has demonstrated gross mismanagement of the authority. It doctored board minutes that were approved in December of 2008. The previous chair of the board has said publicly that it was illegal for the new chair of the board and the then board to doctor and alter the board minutes, which was clearly an attempt to eliminate information that would indicate there was government interference with the board.

I have called for the Auditor General to be mandated to come in. In a previous request from the board of directors itself, the Auditor General responded that her mandate did not permit her to do that, but she can, if the Prime Minister temporarily expands her mandate, go in and clean up the mess. There was no answer to that.

Now the chair of the board, Mark McQueen, of the Toronto Port Authority has himself called for the Auditor General to come in. I do not know what the answer is going to be about the Auditor General, but I doubt that it is going to change.

However, section 41.(1) of the Canada Marine Act authorizes the Minister of Transport to call for a special report of this to clean up the mess. He should do that because we need the answers to these questions. They are not forthcoming from the government.

7:15 p.m.

Nepean—Carleton Ontario

Conservative

Pierre Poilievre ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs

Madam Speaker, allow me to begin by thanking the hon. member for Mississauga South, who is the chair of the ethics committee, for his intervention today.

Our government takes these allegations seriously. This government prides itself on accountability and ethics. That is why we have strengthened the powers and responsibilities of those arm's-length agencies that are charged to investigate such matters.

The Minister of Natural Resources continues to cooperate fully with the Ethics Commissioner. The ministry is following, and will continue to follow, the commissioner's rulings and advice.

The issue is still being examined by the Ethics Commissioner and, therefore, it would be inappropriate for me to comment.

7:15 p.m.

Liberal

Paul Szabo Liberal Mississauga South, ON

Madam Speaker, that is unacceptable. The member knows that the Ethics Commissioner cannot deal with these alleged ethical wrongdoings.

The report from the Ethics Commissioner could take months. In the meantime, we have a dysfunctional board, gross mismanagement, and a gross cover-up of interference by the government in this.

The Conservative-appointed chair of the board of directors has called for someone, whether it be the Auditor General or someone else, to come in and clean up the mess now, before any further damage is done to this authority.

The issue here is that timeliness is of the essence. If we do not get these matters addressed, if the government continues to stonewall, there will be further consequences.

This is a very important authority. It manages the Toronto Island airport and the port facilities. It has assets and resources. But because there are other authorities that appoint boards, we have a problem. It has to be fixed, and it has to be fixed now.

7:20 p.m.

Conservative

Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON

Madam Speaker, our government takes these allegations very seriously. This government prides itself on accountability and ethics. That is why we strengthened the powers and responsibilities of those arm's-length agencies that are charged to investigate such matters.

The Minister of Natural Resources continues to cooperate fully with the Ethics Commissioner. The ministry is following, and will continue to follow, the commissioner's rulings and guidance.

This issue is still being examined by the Ethics Commissioner and, therefore, it would be inappropriate for me to comment.

7:20 p.m.

NDP

The Acting Speaker NDP Denise Savoie

The motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly, the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m., pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 7:21 p.m.)