Stephen Owen

[Sponsorship Program, February 25th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, this minister sees very clearly that there was a problem in the flow of money between legitimate representations by constituents and their MPs and the festivals or whatever other activity was being funded. There is a major problem in the flow of the money. That is why we have a public inquiry. That is why the public accounts committee is studying it. That is why we have a special counsel appointed to recover money wherever possible. That is why we have 18 RCMP investigations.

We are getting to the bottom of it: come and help us do it.

[Sponsorship Program, February 25th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member did not introduce the question, but I assume he is speaking about the fourth-hand information that was presented yesterday and that since has been either varied or denied in the interim by people in the press.

In any event, it is the appropriate role for any member of the House to make representations on behalf of constituents by referring them to an opportunity for funding of local events through the federal government. That is something that we all do, I am sure, and I am sure the member opposite has.

[Sponsorship Program, February 25th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member is referring to cabinet documents that were tabled at the public accounts committee, I believe those are embargoed. I have not had access to them. In any event, I am not sure how we can answer that question without access to them and those of course have not been made public.

[Sponsorship Program, February 25th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I am quite surprised that the hon. member, having been a prosecutor in a former career, does not know the difference between evidence and hearsay, and in fact, hearsay three steps removed. He comes into the House and he puts forward as evidence in a condemning way information that is hearsay two times removed. Now let him come before a public inquiry, under oath, and give that evidence. That is great. That is where he should be.

[Sponsorship Program, February 25th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, of course there was a program. Whether it was registered in some way or described in some way, there was a program. Many members of the opposition applied to the program, including the member for Red Deer.

Yesterday, we heard an accusation about the member from Victoria third-hand. We find in the newspapers this morning that in fact the person three steps back was only joking. The person two steps back was not sure what he heard. Then we get the newspaper and this is their accusation. Take it to the--

[Sponsorship Program, February 25th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the government, through the Prime Minister, in December of last year cancelled the sponsorship program. The first act of the former minister of public works in May 2000 was to cancel the program, put a moratorium on it, until the commission problem was fixed.

We have valid festivals often being funded. We have valid representations by members of Parliament from all parties. We had a problem in the middle and that is why we have a public inquiry.

[Sponsorship Program, February 25th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, we know that many MPs in the House, from all parties, have referred constituents to this program. Whether it was a formal program, whether it was an informal program, it was operating and representations were made to it by members of Parliament. We also know that many valid important festivals were funded through this program in many of our ridings.

The problem is in the middle, in the passage of the funds and the taking of commissions. It is not that any member of Parliament might make representations on the part of a constituent--

[Sponsorship Program, February 25th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General's review that commenced in March 2002 was referred to her by the government to look into the program.

I would like to quote from a letter from the member of Parliament for Red Deer on December 12, 2001, to the minister at the time, Mr. Gagliano, asking for support for a program in his riding at that time. Six months before the member said there was no program, he wrote to the minister.

[Sponsorship Program, February 24th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, obviously hundreds of MPs' constituency offices across this country, over a number of years, knew of this program. It was not a secret program.

What has been discovered in the last couple of years is that there were significant problems with commissions paid to advertising companies. That does not disparage the worth of the festivals that were funded through many of these funds. That is not the issue. The issue is the commissions, so that is what we are looking into. Bring this evidence before the public inquiry and let us find out the truth.

[Sponsorship Program, February 24th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I would ask that hon. member to do her duty and come before the public accounts committee or before the public inquiry and put forward evidence of wrongdoing. That is so obvious.

The processes are there. We are all trying to find the truth. There was misspending of public funds and the government is getting to the bottom of it.