House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2006, with 45% of the vote.
Gasoline Prices May 5th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, gasoline prices are skyrocketing, and all the government is doing is siding with the oil companies.
My question is this: While gas prices are set by a small group of oil companies, to the detriment of the consumer, how can the government justify the fact that the only thing it did last year was to reduce the tax burden of those oil companies by $250 million?
Government Contracts May 4th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, I feel obliged to inform the Minister of Canadian Heritage that, if we have been bringing up the same question since 1995, it is because we have never had any answers from this government since 1995. That is the answer.
Who in government is responsible for the decision, in connection with Option Canada as well as the sponsorship program, to thumb their noses at all of the administrative rules for managing public funds? We want to know on whose shoulders this heavy responsibility rests. People want to know and the government has an obligation to tell us.
Government Contracts May 4th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, a spokesperson for Canadian Heritage, Anne-Sophie Lawless, made the following statement yesterday in connection with the money paid to Option Canada: “We tried to trace where that money went, but it seems that this was not one of the things that had to be reported to us at the time”.
How can the Minister of Canadian Heritage justify the government's desire to conceal from both public servants and the general public just what was done with the $5 million dollars turned over to Option Canada?
Government Contracts May 3rd, 2004
Mr. Speaker, this is just unbelievable. I have never heard such an answer. It does not make any sense.
The minister is responsible. The government is responsible. Millions of dollars have disappeared. The Auditor General does not know where that money went. We think it was used to fund the love-in. We are putting a very clear question to the minister and the government. If they want to be transparent, let them prove it.
Where does the $5 million come from and was it used to fund the love-in held in Quebec just before the referendum? That is what we want to know.
Government Contracts May 3rd, 2004
Mr. Speaker, even the Auditor General and her predecessor do not know where that money went and what was done with it.
It is the minister who is responsible for her budget. The fact that these events took place seven or nine years ago and that these millions may have disappeared does not mean that the government is no longer accountable.
I have a question for the minister. Have the $5 million taken from the official languages program been used to fund the love-in that took place in Montreal just before the referendum? This is what we want to know.
National Unity Fund April 28th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the difference between the minister and me is that I know I am the Bloc House Leader, while he did not know he was Jean Lapierre's assistant.
We now know that the list of events for 2000 to 2006 exists. According to the minister, the list of events between 1992 and 2000 is not ready and does not exist. Is the minister prepared to rise and tell me, in all seriousness, that this list does not exist right now?
National Unity Fund April 28th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Minister of Health, the assistant to Jean Lapierre in Quebec, listed a number of events that received grants from the national unity fund.
If the minister wants to be taken seriously when he says he wants to be transparent about this fund, then what is he waiting for, frankly, to table this list that he refers to frequently in this House?
National Unity Fund April 27th, 2004
Really, Mr. Speaker, this is a pitiful show. The Minister of Health is a pitiful sight.
I will give him an example. As far as the vanished $4.8 million is concerned, all the Prime Minister has to do is pick up the phone and call his buddy Claude Dauphin in Quebec City, who was his right hand man and the head of Option Canada, and ask him the source of the $4.8 million, and particularly what was done with it, since this is taxpayers' money. That is what we want to know, and he must be capable of doing that.
National Unity Fund April 27th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, like everyone else, I am very interested in knowing that the Minister of Health does have the list. That is what we want. Let him table that list. If one wants to be transparent, then one provides information. He does have it, so let him produce it.
With my question, he will know what we object to. We would like to know whether the $4.8 million for Option Canada, money which has to all intents and purposes disappeared, came from the $85 million spent in a certain year. The Auditor General tells us that neither its source nor its destination was known. What we want to know is whether it came from that budget.
National Unity Fund April 26th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, what the government wants to do is increasingly clear, it wants to continue looking until the general election. That is what it is trying to do.
We were not told about this list. The amounts were minimized. Furthermore, the former president of the Privy Council just told us that he did not know how it worked, but he found it useful to keep both hands in the bag.
I want to ask the government a question. Who made the decisions and who used our money, who decided how much these amounts would be, and who chose the events? In short, who spent $600 million in taxpayers funds without telling us?