House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2006, with 45% of the vote.
Mil Davie Shipyard December 5th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, we asked the Minister of Industry several questions in this House on saving the MIL Davie shipyard.
Are we to understand from the answers of the industry minister, who has always hidden behind the lack of an MIL Davie business plan to avoid facing his responsibilities, that what he really wanted was to follow up on the secret report he has been hiding in his department for over a year, which proposes closing MIL Davie, and that the minister lacks the courage to say so frankly?
Mil Davie Shipyard December 5th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, by refusing to take a firm stand on the Hibernia contract issue, the government has made another move which, combined with the actions of the Minister of Transport and the Minister of Industry, will lead MIL Davie straight to disaster.
We learned over the weekend that the Minister of Industry had been keeping secret for more than a year a report on Canadian shipyards that urged the government to depend only on a small number of shipyards and drop MIL Davie.
In light of the unfair treatment of MIL Davie by the Hibernia consortium and the failure of the government to follow through with the Magdalen Islands ferry contract, does the Deputy Prime Minister recognize that all the actions of her government are being dictated by this secret report to the Minister of Industry, which has the MIL Davie slated for closure?
Business Of The House December 1st, 1994
Mr. Speaker, I would like the Government House Leader to tell us what the order of business will be for next week.
Mil Davie Shipyard December 1st, 1994
Mr. Speaker, what is the government of Canada waiting for to table the full report of the Canada-Newfoundland Board, so that everyone can take
cognizance of the facts and see that MIL Davie was treated unfairly and that the Hibernia board of directors has contravened every contract award rule in the book in this particular case?
Mil Davie Shipyard December 1st, 1994
Mr. Speaker, the solution seems obvious. A bid has been submitted and the bidder's name is MIL Davie.
Why does the government not transfer the contract to MIL Davie, as would seem appropriate? And where does the government find the time now to launch a new bidding process, if the work was so urgent, or so we were told, that the contract had to be let to Saint John Shipbuilding in the first place?
Mil Davie Shipyard December 1st, 1994
Mr. Speaker, the government persistently refuses to right a wrong done to Quebec, by transferring immediately the contract for the construction of a Hibernia drilling sub-unit to the Quebec shipbuilder MIL Davie, the only loser in this whole business, as it was the only other bidder on this contract. Yet Hibernia argued that the time constraints and deadlines required that this contract be assigned to Saint John Shipbuilding without competitive bidding.
My question is directed to whichever minister would be so kind as to answer on behalf of the government. How is it that the government has the time to call for tenders now, when the normal practice, as the Quebec Minister of Industry indicated, is to go to the next bidder on the list if the first one is unable to perform the work?
Mil Davie Shipyard November 30th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, we see how complicated and difficult it is to obtain justice when a Quebec company like MIL Davie is involved. Does the minister realize that by reopening the bidding, she is leaving MIL Davie vulnerable to its competitors since they will probably have access to the documents from the first bid and find out about their contents? Does she realize that?
Mil Davie Shipyard November 30th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, since everyone admits that MIL Davie was wronged in this affair, why does the minister stubbornly refuse to recognize that the only way to correct the injustice done to the Quebec shipyard is to award it automatically and without delay this contract which it should have had from the beginning?
Mil Davie Shipyard November 30th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, yesterday in this House, the Prime Minister agreed with the verdict of the Canada-Newfoundland board which denounced awarding a contract without tender to Saint John Shipbuilding. The Prime Minister instructed the Minister of Natural Resources to require the Hibernia consortium to review its decision that was unfair to MIL Davie, the only bidder able to carry out this contract which had been awarded to Saint John.
How can the minister explain the government's decision to hold another call for tenders on this contract, when MIL Davie was the only other shipyard that bid on it?
Bosnia November 29th, 1994
Mr. Speaker, can the Prime Minister tell us if Canada intends to use its influence so that the contact group composed of France, the United Kingdom, Russia, Germany and the United States will adopt a uniform position on how the peace process in Bosnia should be put in place?