Lost her last election, in 2006, with 39% of the vote.
Sponsorship Program March 11th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, I want to reassure the hon. member that Mr. Justice Gomery has been very busy in relation to putting in place the preconditions to carry forward this inquiry.
Mr. Justice Gomery to date has named Sheila-Marie Cook as the executive director of the inquiry, Bernard Roy as counsel and Neil Finkelstein as co-counsel. They have already begun preparing for the inquiry's hearing.
I think anyone who understands how these public inquiries operate--
Sponsorship Program March 11th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, as I have already indicated, in response to a motion from the public accounts committee, we have provided all cabinet documents, including Treasury Board documents, in relation to the sponsorship situation.
As I say, there was another motion from the public accounts committee this morning requesting additional documents. The government will review that new motion, and we will respond in a timely fashion to it.
Sponsorship Program March 11th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, actually there are two things in response to the hon. member's question.
First, as my colleague, the Minister of Health, has pointed out, the Prime Minister has asked the Clerk of the Privy Council to review all issues surrounding that fund, its existence and so on. The Prime Minister has not used that fund in any way since becoming Prime Minister. Nor will he use that fund until reviews are completed by the Clerk of the Privy Council. No one wants to get to the bottom of this more than the Prime Minister.
Second, as I have already indicated, the government has provided all cabinet documents, at the request of the public accounts committee, in relation to--
Sponsorship Program March 11th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, I think everybody in the House is aware that the government has already provided all cabinet documents, including Treasury Board documents, in relation to sponsorship issues.
I understand there was a new motion from the public accounts committee this morning. I want to reassure all hon. members in the House that we are in the process of reviewing that motion, and we will respond to it in a timely fashion.
Sponsorship Program March 11th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, in some respects it is a little hard to follow the opposition in its rather loose reference to various documents.
I have one document in my possession, which was not from Mr. Littler to anyone, but was from a department official in finance to Mr. Littler. It has nothing to do with sponsorship. In fact, as the hon. Minister of Public Works has pointed out, this memo deals with a routine advertising campaign in relation to Canada savings bonds. This is an annual campaign that we know takes place every--
Immigration March 10th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, in fact there has been a recent review of the situation in Algeria. That review was undertaken in consultation with representatives from Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Again, I reiterate that all due process was followed in this case.
Immigration March 10th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, all due processes were followed in this case. As I indicated yesterday, it was the Quebec City police that entered the church in question and removed Mr. Cherfi. In fact there was an immigration warrant in place in relation to Mr. Cherfi. That warrant was executed and after that, all due process was followed in relation to his removal.
Criminal Code March 9th, 2004
moved that Bill C-12, an act to amend the Criminal Code (protection of children and other vulnerable persons) and the Canada Evidence Act, be read the third time and passed.
Immigration March 9th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, I would hope that the hon. member knows that there must be respect for our refugee laws in this country.
In fact I want to correct the implication by the hon. member in relation to what happened in that church in Quebec City. The Quebec City police went into that church under a separate warrant that had nothing to do with Mr. Cherfi's immigration status. They went into that church in relation to a separate criminal matter and they executed a warrant that had nothing to do with his immigration status.
Immigration March 9th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has asked a very important question. As she well knows, because she signed the safe third country agreement with her U.S. counterpart, it is very important for us, with the United States, to ensure that we are able to deal with refugee claimants along our common land border in an efficient and fair way.
I am very pleased to inform the House that not only has Canada issued its draft regulations under the safe third agreement, but yesterday the United States of America issued its draft regulations for comment. We are very hopeful that this agreement will be implemented in the very near future.