Rahim Jaffer

[Middle East, April 8th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the organization banned from fundraising in Canada is the Hezbollah External Security Organization. This is the military arm of the Hezbollah.

Since 1983 Hezbollah has been responsible for attacking the U.S. embassy along with the U.S.-French barracks in Beirut and it is presently attacking Israel. Why does the government refuse to ban fundraising by all branches of Hezbollah?

[Middle East, April 8th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the hatred and violence from foreign conflicts have no place in Canada. It was wrong to attack mosques and it is equally wrong to attack synagogues. I hope the government demonstrates some leadership to try to calm the fears of both sides as I have asked it to do in past conflicts.

On another issue, the Prime Minister and the finance minister claim to be resolutely opposed to terrorism. Why then does the government continue to allow Hezbollah to fundraise in Canada?

[Leadership Campaigns, March 22nd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, this has been a consistent pattern with the government. There are always problems when it comes to ethics and accountability. It owes Canadians better than that.

We found out that a minister's fundraiser has been on contract with his department only because he accidentally slipped the wrong cheque into the mail. How many other cabinet ministers have had their leadership bagmen on the payroll?

Could the Deputy Prime Minister assure the House that no other minister has given contracts or government appointments to their leadership fundraisers?

[Leadership Campaigns, March 22nd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, obviously that has come under question and that is why we are asking the government to be honest with Canadians and table the rules.

The government's approach to ethics is see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. Ethics violations that would have had the rat pack screeching under the Mulroney government are tidily hidden away by the ethics lapdog.

How can the ethics rules have any credibility if the Deputy Prime Minister and his colleagues are not prepared to be publicly accountable to uphold them?

[Leadership Campaigns, March 22nd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, this week it was revealed that the finance minister's top fundraiser was also on contract with the Department of Finance. That was too much for even the Liberal's ethics lapdog who asked the finance minister to cut his ties with Jim Palmer.

Now we learn that there are new guidelines for leadership fundraising by cabinet ministers but they are being kept secret.

Will the Deputy Prime Minister end this cover-up and insist that leadership fundraising rules be tabled in the House?

[Leadership Campaigns, March 22nd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, this week it was revealed that one of Paul Martin's top fundraisers was also on contract with the Department of Finance.

[Grants and Contributions, March 21st, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I do not think the questions are the problem. It is the irresponsible answers we continue to get from the government.

Last year the previous minister was under fire for a previous Groupaction contract for which it got $615,000 to evaluate its own work on government event sponsorships. He refused to release the report to the public.

Will the new minister now table that report so that we can see if it is another jumbled collection of photocopies or will he continue to cover up the tactics of Alfonso Gagliano?

[Grants and Contributions, March 21st, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, it seems like his department is so mixed up, it is tough to keep track.

It seems that three is the magic number with this government. First, we learned that the government had awarded a $550,000 contract to its friends for a bogus list. Then, we learned that the government had paid even more for a photocopy of the report. Now, we are finding out that the government is paying another half a million dollars for another photocopy. That is enough waste.

When will the government stop making fun of people and start acting responsibly with the taxpayers' money?

[Grants and Contributions, March 21st, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by congratulating all of the Canadian Alliance leadership candidates for their valiant effort, and especially to congratulate our new leader, Stephen Harper. We all look forward to him assuming his responsibilities in the House. I would have had a full report from last night but somehow it has gone missing.

Speaking of missing reports, on Monday the minister of public works assured the House that Groupaction contracts were awarded through a competitive process and were given to the best bidders. However an internal audit conducted in 2000 questioned whether the government got the best price on these contracts and questioned their compliance with treasury board rules.

In light of the phoney photocopied report and the damning statements of his own auditors, does the minister still defend these contracts having gone to the best and lowest bidders?

[Grants and Contributions, March 18th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, what has that got to do with anything?

The government has nothing but disregard for taxpayers. We wish that it would be straightforward with Canadian taxpayers because there is a pattern here. Three firms that donated over $246,000 to the Liberals were awarded almost $158 million in contracts over the last five years.

The government saw one of its bagmen and organizers, Pierre Corbeil, convicted for peddling influence along the same lines.

Could the Prime Minister stand in his place and assure Canadians that influence peddling is not in fact happening again?