Rahim Jaffer

[Grants and Contributions, March 18th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, how about being straightforward with Canadians, something the government never does.

While the average citizen is working like crazy to pay this government's crazy taxes, the Liberals seem to be laughing in their face. They are handing out over $158 million in sham contracts to their friends, while the average person is having a hard time just making ends meet.

When will they stop greasing their friends' palms, start cutting some of the fat, and lower taxes so that the average Canadian can enjoy the good times too?

[Grants and Contributions, March 15th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, you will be glad you have acknowledged me.

Canadians have been enquiring about the Groupaction report for over two years and have been told that it cannot be found. Suddenly, in a matter of days, the minister has cut and pasted a shoddy copy together for the House. However, producing the report is just the tip of the iceberg.

Will the minister table the report immediately without waiting for the translation? Will he have a computer forensics expert analyze the hard drive to make sure that the report was actually completed when the company claims it was?

[Zimbabwe, March 14th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I guess it is difficult for the government to tell that dictator to step down, especially when it is coming from one dinosaur to another.

This is not the first time the Canadian government has been soft on Mugabe. The member for Calgary Centre, as prime minister, urged the Commonwealth to reject the democratic elections of 1979 because Mugabe's Marxist guerilla group did not participate. Then in 1988, as foreign affairs minister, he offered Mugabe military aid.

Will the Liberal government reject the failed appeasement of the past and tell that Mugabe his time over and he must step down?

[Zimbabwe, March 14th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, Britain, the United States, the European Union observers, New Zealand and Australia have all described the election in Zimbabwe as a shame and a fraud. The Commonwealth observer group in Zimbabwe has said the election does not represent the will of the people of Zimbabwe.

Will this government immediately impose economic sanctions on Zimbabwe and send its high commissioner in this country back home with a message for Mugabe to step down?

[Grants and Contributions, March 13th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, this is just a shame. The minister cannot find a $500,000 report and if it were not for our pushing, the minister would not even care. This report was commissioned by Alfonso Gagliano who left embroiled in scandal. The company he hired to produce the report donated $70,000 to the Liberals. It probably was written on a cocktail napkin.

My question for the minister is simple. Has he asked the RCMP to investigate what happened to this half a million dollar missing report?

[Grants and Contributions, March 13th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, it is a shame how many more people will be dead until that two week process is over.

The Minister of Public Works is trying to come across as “Mr. Clean” in the “group inaction” scandal. He is, however, starting to look more like Mr. Nepotism Cover-up”, the same as his predecessor.

He has had 24 hours to find the report. He appears to be telling us that his department is quite simply too poorly organized to find it. Where is this wonderful $500,000 report?

[Grants and Contributions, March 12th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, maybe the dog ate the report. Canadian taxpayers are tired of their hard earned money being spent to promote the Liberal government. It would not have to improve its image if it were not swimming in controversy and scandal.

Canadians spent over a half a million dollars on this report and now nobody can find it. Will the minister table the report today, or did it get shredded with the rest of Gagliano's files?

[Grants and Contributions, March 12th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the report was ever commissioned in fact.

This government spent a great deal of money and energy with “group inaction” in order to buy itself visibility in Quebec. Instead of spending the funds of all Canadian taxpayers in ways that are both misleading and insulting to all Quebecers, this government should concentrate on renewing the federation.

Instead of wasting our money on Groupaction, is the Prime Minister going to put an end to his inaction and table the report?

[Groupaction Marketing, March 11th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, do you know what is not new is the fact that the government loves patronage and there are some big returns. Groupaction gave $70,000 to the Liberal coffers and received two contracts of over $1 million for analytical reports. That is not a bad investment. The only record left of the reports is a list of cultural events that any smart 13 year old could have put together in a good night of Internet searching.

The Liberals say that there is no red tape to cut, no money for the military and no further tax cut or debt reduction, and then we see this kind of pork. When will the government stop acting like patronage junkies, clean up its act and table this report?

[Groupaction Marketing, March 11th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, Groupaction Marketing Ltd. gave the Liberals $70,000 in exchange for a contract worth over half a million dollars for a sham report on visibility which the government has lost.

This is the same government which tells us we are missing the point when we ask it to cut some of the fat, to stop buying Quebecers with visibility and little else, to end the patronage.

With this report now missing, this government has shown us that it is missing the point. When will it stop being dishonest with taxpayers?