Jean Lapierre

[Sponsorship Program, November 1st, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I assume the hon. member has not grasped the fact that the report was given today to the RCMP, which the Liberal Party itself has asked to investigate those who misused the name and resources of the Liberal Party.

[Sponsorship Program, November 1st, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, the report is very clear on this, and the Liberal Party authorities have just issued a cheque for $1.14 million to cover all donations that appear to have been made to that party improperly. It has all been paid back, every cent of it.

[Sponsorship Program, November 1st, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I invite the hon. member to read the report. She should know that everyone is responsible for his own actions, acts of omission or negligence. Justice Gomery is very clear as to how and to whom he assigns responsibility. All she needs to do is read the report and she will have the truth, the only truth, Justice Gomery's truth, and not one concocted by the Bloc Québécois' fertile imagination.

[Sponsorship Program, November 1st, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, the members of the Bloc Québécois certainly have trouble accepting the truth. They have been spreading all sorts of lies across the province for months now. What is more, last weekend, they were working on a misleading advertising campaign that they will have to withdraw because of the Gomery findings.

[Sponsorship Program, November 1st, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, we certainly have nothing to learn about courage from this party. One thing needs to be said: what takes courage is for a prime minister to decide to abolish a sponsorship program and to charge Judge Gomery with getting to the bottom of things. The person with courage is the current Prime Minister.

[Sponsorship Program, November 1st, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, if the member is after other quotes, here is one. Judge Gomery wrote at page 20 of the summary: “The Department of Finance and its Minister have no oversight role for other departments' expenditures other than setting the financial context via the fiscal framework”.

This is the exact opposite of what the Bloc has been saying for months and months. I would ask the member and his leader to offer their apologies for the inaccurate remarks they have been making for months.

[Sponsorship Program, November 1st, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, we understand the Bloc Québécois' dismay. However, I would remind him that, on page 430, Justice Gomery states, “Mr. Martin, whose role as Finance Minister did not involve him in the supervision of spending by the PMO or PWGSC, is entitled, like other Ministers in the Quebec caucus, to be exonerated from any blame for carelessness or misconduct”.

That is Justice Gomery's answer, that is his conclusion. The Bloc members are rejecting it because it does not suit them.

[Airports, October 31st, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I think the member has a memory problem because I also said, “if you want them to go to Vancouver”, and he agreed. Obviously people in Hamilton, in London, in Moncton, everywhere in the country would like to have more business like Toronto gets. We are all happy that Toronto gets the business, but it has to pay the rent. It has a lot of business and it does great business. Everyone has to pay their rent.

[Airports, October 31st, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, one fact is for real. The Minister of Finance and this government have given an $8 billion break to airports in Canada. Of that $8 billion, $5 billion goes to the Toronto Airport. I think $5 billion is an awful lot of money.

[Public Transportation Safety, October 31st, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, obviously, the Bloc is not concerned with the safety of those using public transit. The leader of the Bloc can think only of creating an army for the Republic of Quebec or recruiting spies. The only thing that the leader of the Bloc did not announce on the weekend was whether, if young Quebeckers failed to volunteer for this crazy scheme, there would be a draft.