Walt Lastewka

[Laurier Liberal Ladies Club, October 28th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the voters of St. Catharines for returning me to my fourth term as their member of Parliament. This is due in no small part to the Laurier Liberal Ladies Club that is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

This club was founded to provide a forum to promote liberalism, self-improvement and the political education of women, particularly in the Niagara region. The Laurier Liberal Ladies Club has held monthly luncheon meetings with guest speakers who have spoken on local, provincial and federal issues and concerns.

During elections the members have supported the provincial and federal candidates in many ways. I have personally benefited from the tremendous contribution the Laurier Ladies have made to my campaigns.

I wish to thank all the members of the Laurier Liberal Ladies Club for their dedication to the betterment of Canada. I wish them all the best on their 25th anniversary and many years of continued success.

[Dunc Schooley, October 26th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House of Commons to honour Mr. Dunc Schooley who passed away at 93 on October 10.

Born in Ridgeway, Ontario, Dunc was one of six children. He was an accomplished baseball pitcher who was respected by his teammates and opponents alike as the skinny southpaw with the sneaky curveball. Pitching for the Merritton Senior “A” ball team, he struck out 19 batters in one game. He could have had fame and fortune in the majors. Dunc remained in Merritton where he and his late wife, Eileen, raised their family and made a tremendous contribution to the community.

Dunc Schooley was a charter member and past president of the Merritton Lions Club, past master of the Adanac Masonic Lodge, a volunteer fireman, and past president of the Red Cross. He created a learn to swim program free to all participants and he was the driving force behind the Dunc Schooley Swimming Pool. Dunc lived by the adage, “Leave the place a little better than you found it”. His community is a much better place today because of his devotion and hard work.

I extend heartfelt condolences to Dunc's brother Will, his children Arthur, John, Joanne and Marylynn, his nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

[Sponsorship Program, May 14th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the government and the Prime Minister immediately put into effect the public inquiry, the special counsel, the RCMP to do its work, and the public accounts committee to get to the root of the problem. This member and many of his colleagues filibustered and wasted a lot of hours in committee, and lost time in committee.

All the evidence will be on the Internet: summaries of evidence, updates and working papers, removing all the partisanship that this member and his party have included in the public accounts committee.

[Sponsorship Program, May 14th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I think the hon. member is a little mixed up. The public inquiry is moving on, the special counsel is doing his work, and the RCMP is doing its work.

The public accounts committee has met for many hours and many days, and had to go through many filibusters by this member and the opposition. It has released evidence along the line of summaries of evidence, updates and the working papers, that have removed the partisan games that that member and his party have been playing.

[Supply, May 13th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I heard very clearly the sequence of events that happened over the last six or seven years. The public accounts committee has been sitting for a number of months. Could the hon. gentleman explain some of his findings and recommendations after hearing all the testimony, including Mr. Quail a couple of times and the Auditor General a number of times?

Also, could he possibly outline his recommendations about how we should be go ahead, since the task of the public accounts committee was to find out what went wrong, why and recommend fixes to the system?

[Supply, May 13th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker I would like to respond to some of the remarks that the hon. member made. I want to make sure that we look at the fact that the Auditor General wrote to the committee, and the member has a copy of the letter, reinforcing that $100 million was not lost or stolen. Those are her exact words.

I know there are a lot of people wanting to twist and turn and make other accusations. The member opposite, including the member from the NDP, did not want the Auditor General to come back to be to share with us more information that she had received.

I ask the member for Provencher, did he or did he not receive the letter from the Auditor General concerning that item specifically? Please answer specifically.

[Supply, May 13th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I heard the hon. member talk about the bureaucracy and that some members in the bureaucracy stretched and broke the rules and operated outside the system. I wonder if she could answer me directly about the fact that when it came time to release the information of Mr. Guité, the executive director of the sponsorship program, she tried to keep it back and did not vote in favour of releasing the information. Could the member speak to releasing information of Mr. Guité?

[Petitions, May 7th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I have several petitions to present to the House today. The petitioners appeal to the Government of Canada to uphold the legal definition of marriage to be the lasting union of one man and one woman.

[Standing Committee on Public Accounts, May 7th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, it is very clear. Part of the problem in the public accounts committee is the politicization of that committee by that party and the opposition members not wanting to get to the root cause of the problem, not wanting to take the testimony that they have heard and put it in a synopsis report and make that available for Canadians. The sooner we get that to Canadians, the sooner Canadians will understand that they have tried to politicize the complete committee and not get to the root cause of the problem.

[Standing Committee on Public Accounts, May 7th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, it is very clear that they are afraid of any synopsis or any interim report. It is not unusual for a committee, after working for nine weeks like the committee has, to issue a synopsis of the testimony that has been held. If there is a report to be put out of it, it is an interim report. The question is why do they not want to have the report? Because the report requires Canadians to see it.