Michel Gauthier

[Committees of the House, May 9th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, similar situations have occurred on a number of occasions. You in fact referred to one on June 15, 1995, when the government whip sought deferral of a vote, at the latest, during the course of the day, while the opposition whip wanted it to be held at 5:30 p.m. the next day. The Speaker asked the two parties to reach an agreement, as you have done. However, as they did not, the Speaker ruled that the vote would be delayed until the following Monday, the latest day.

The same situation occurred in 1996. Having ruled on a similar case, the Speaker deferred the vote to the next day, the later of the two dates. There is a well established practice in this House, which is referred to in House of Commons Procedure and Practice , whereby in the event of a difference, when there are two requests for deferral, the request for the later day takes precedence, generally speaking.

This is the third situation, and I believe you should act as did your predecessors, who acted very wisely.

[Sponsorship Program, May 9th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, out of all the ministerial staff involved and identified as having received dirty money, there is, among others, the Minister of Transport's director of communications.

How could the minister say, last year, in front of every camera, that this was a small parallel group, that it was not the core of the Liberal Party? His own director of communications was involved. How could he make such a statement?

[Sponsorship Program, May 9th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of the Environment is violating all the rules. I would ask you to call him to order. I will put my question after he shuts up.

[Sponsorship Program, May 9th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, this is the Liberal tactic of trying to smear others, without any reason, just for the sake of it. What a fine Liberal tactic.

The following individuals are among those who received money: Luc Desbiens, from the office of the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development; Daniel Dezainde, press secretary for the Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec; Irène Marcheterre, director of communications in the office of the Minister of Transport.

How can the Minister of Transport—

[Sponsorship Program, May 9th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, Benoît Corbeil has confirmed the statements made by Jean Brault of Groupaction: $50,000 of the sponsorship money was used to pay election workers for the Liberal Party during the 2000 election; $50,000 was paid to persons who were specifically identified, along with the exact amounts that they received.

Now that there is absolutely no doubt about this and that the government is in a position to check these statements, since there is a lot of staff from its ministerial offices involved, will it put that dirty money in a trust at the earliest opportunity?

[Sponsorship Program, May 5th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, there is no connection between the Parti Québécois and the dirt and filth characteristic of this government. The Parti Québécois has created a trust in which the questionable money is kept.

What we are asking of the government is to stop playing the hypocrite, open a trust account and put in it the Liberal Party's dirty money, which was used to steal the election. Let it put the money in a trust.

[Sponsorship Program, May 5th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, what needs changing is not the culture of government but the government itself. Guy Bisson, Jacques Roy, Louis Pichette and Franco Iacono, all of whom worked on election campaigns, deep in the Liberal Party's organization, have admitted to having been paid with sponsorship money.

I would like the Prime Minister to tell me what more he needs? Individuals have admitted to having been paid with sponsorship money. Does the Liberal Party not call that dirty money?

[Government Contracts, May 4th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Transport said in this House that he was not paid for that work.

With respect to that statement made in this House, I am asking him how he was paid when he worked for Cossette. I want him to answer. It is important to those watching. He swore—

[Government Contracts, May 4th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Transport has a problem because he earned his living by counselling, as he called it, for a series of companies.

What I want to know is, when he worked for Cossette, was he paid on a fee for service basis or was he paid on retainer, based on a fixed rate contract?

[Government Contracts, May 4th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, L'Actualité has printed a list of the transport minister's clients before he got into politics. They include Onex, Loblaws, Imperial Tobacco, and Réno-Dépôt/The Building Box. He also acknowledged having worked for Cossette Communication.

My question for the Minister of Transport is quite simple. When he was working for Cossette Communication, was he paid on a fee for service basis or was he paid on retainer, in other words, did he have a fixed rate contract?