House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2006, with 45% of the vote.
Sponsorship Program March 29th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the auditor is very clear: he is shocked to see that his report could have been interpreted as “administrative problems”. My question is for the Prime Minister.
How can he justify that, in his first solemn declaration to the people of Quebec and Canada, he did not even bother to read the internal audit report? Does he realize that his entire defence is falling apart and that his credibility is taking a hit?
Sponsorship Program March 29th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the auditor said, “I am deeply disturbed by the fact that some people's impression was that we had characterized the problems as administrative in nature. I believe that serious, unacceptable errors were made”.
How can the Prime Minister justify resting his government's entire defence on Alfonso Gagliano's argument without even reading the report, since Alfonso Gagliano did not read it either? How can he explain that?
Sponsorship Program March 25th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, we know that, when it comes to promoting national unity, anything goes on the other side. The former prime minister said it, “The end justifies the means”. It does not matter that millions of taxpayer dollars were wasted, it does not matter that $250 million of our taxes went to bonuses for their cronies.
I have a question for the Minister of Health. Can he stand up and tell the people of Quebec and the people of Canada that the end justifies the means also for him when it comes to Canada?
Sponsorship Program March 25th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the problem is that this was a normal reserve that was used for abnormal things. We know that the Prime Minister's secret fund resulted in the sponsorship scandal after 1996. However, we believe that, between 1992 and 1996, this fund generously provided by the Minister of Finance at the time may have been at the heart of another scandal, the Option Canada scandal.
Can the Prime Minister confirm that the $4.8 million that disappeared from Option Canada, which even the auditor at the time could not trace, indeed came from this secret fund?
Sponsorship Program March 24th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, despite efforts by the Minister of Health, I can say that there has never been a dirtier or uglier thing done by any other government in the history of Canada.
I call on all government members to tell us how they—these so-called kings of transparency—can justify that, at the request of the Prime Minister's Office, on the very day the Minister of Finance cut the secret unity fund, the Liberal members were blocking the disclosure of documents. If all the documents are public, then why do we not have access—
Sponsorship Program March 24th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, as of yesterday, the Prime Minister thinks he has solved all his problems by asking the Minister of Finance to cut the secret unity fund administered by the Prime Minister himself.
Does the Prime Minister not realize that, since this fund is at the heart of the sponsorship scandal, he has an obligation to tell us why he put millions of dollars into it for nine years when he was finance minister? Who signed to release money from the fund? Who made representations to take money out of the fund?
He has an obligation to answer these questions.
Sponsorship Program March 23rd, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the current Prime Minister was finance minister when the Prime Minister's secret fund, which was used to finance the sponsorship scandal, was set up.
Why is the government refusing to make these documents public when they are essential to the committee's work? We want to know how the money put into the fund by the then finance minister was used, particularly with regard to the sponsorships. Why is the truth being hidden?
Sponsorship Program March 23rd, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the committee can pass all the motions it wants, the only one that matters is the one calling for the production of documents on the Prime Minister's secret fund, which was used to finance the whole sponsorship scandal. We want these documents to be made public for the benefit of parliamentarians.
Why did the government defeat this motion? It goes to the heart of the problem: the funding of the sponsorship program.
Sponsorship Program March 22nd, 2004
Mr. Speaker, today the President of the Privy Council will table a bill in this House to protect those who blow the whistle on wrongdoing in the public service.
By making the President of the Privy Council responsible for the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act—the very person who was the first victim of a disclosure, does the government not see that there is a definite credibility gap? The one who has been denounced is the one who will protect the whistleblowers? It seems very odd.
Sponsorship Program March 22nd, 2004
Mr. Speaker, it is here in this House that transparency must start. The Prime Minister tells us that he met with all his ministers, including the President of the Privy Council, before he formed his cabinet, to verify whether there was any involvement in the sponsorship scandal.
I ask this of the President of the Privy Council. Can he tell us if he did indeed inform the Prime Minister that he had close ties to Pierre Tremblay, that he used a secure telephone line to talk to him, and that he avoided writing these meetings in his agenda, so as not to leave any traces of his encounters with Mr. Tremblay? Did he say that to the Prime Minister?