Stephen Owen

[Sponsorship Program, February 24th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the sponsorship program was well known by all members of the House and in fact endorsed and had constituencies referred on to the program in 2000.

The point in this case is that the hon. member's office referred on to the public works department. I have seen the application. It was four pages in detail, 15 pages of endorsement letters, not from the minister but from people in the community. A post-mortem of the festival found it to be entirely successful. This was an appropriate expenditure of public funds in the community.

[Government Contracts, February 23rd, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, in response to the hon. member for Roberval's question on February 18, the list of departments that received the syndicated research poll through the Department of Public Works and Government Services.

[Sponsorship Program, February 23rd, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I will not attempt to prejudge the decisions of the public accounts committee or the public inquiry with respect to the past, but with respect to the present, I would say no.

[Sponsorship Program, February 23rd, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member knows, the sponsorship program was significantly changed over the last two and a half years to ensure that the proper safeguards were in place.

Between 1997 and 2001, there were significant problems. The Auditor General has reported on them. We found them in internal audits. References have been made to the RCMP. The public accounts committee and now the public inquiry will look into the very questions in detail that the member has raised.

[Sponsorship Program, February 20th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, members on this side of the House have great confidence in the RCMP, as do most people in the world. It is recognized as one of the top law enforcement agencies in the world.

However, because of the involvement of an administrative arm of the RCMP in this situation, the Sûreté du Québec has taken over that part of the investigation.

[Sponsorship Program, February 20th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, no. The police investigations are ongoing.

The hon. member did raise a concern, a concern that was also very much on the minds of members of the government and the Minister of Public Works at that time, which resulted in referrals to the Auditor General, a forensic audit of hundreds of files within public works, further administrative reviews and further referrals to the RCMP.

The government is taking these issues seriously. When we received the latest report of the Auditor General, we put in place, under the Prime Minister's direction, an unprecedented array of processes to--

[Sponsorship Program, February 20th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, this is an issue, among a number, that is being looked into by all of the processes set up. If there was money improperly spent it will be asked to be repaid.

[Sponsorship Program, February 20th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the investigations that are underway, as well as the work by the special counsel, will be tracing the funds from their source in the sponsorship program to wherever they might lead. If that leads to the Liberal Party, the Prime Minister has said it will be followed there. If that leads somewhere else, it will be followed there.

We do not start at some imaginary place and work backward. We start at the source of the funds and follow it wherever it might lead.

[Sponsorship Program, February 20th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, we have appointed a special counsel for the recovery of funding flowing from this program. That lawyer and his firm are already aggressively tracing money. They will be following it from the source of the sponsorship program to wherever it might lead.

Where money can be recovered, aggressive civil action will be taken to recover it. Where criminal activity is indicated, referrals will continue to be made to the RCMP. When any of us in the House or outside the House have knowledge of improper activity, criminal or illegal in some other way, they will--

[Sponsorship Program, February 20th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate that unsubstantiated allegations are made in the House about a public servant and now member of the PCO and the Prime Minister's staff.

Rather than making allegations in the House which are unsubstantiated and cannot be answered by the person they are directed at, I would invite the opposition to bring this evidence before one of the inquiries and processes that is underway such as the public accounts committee and/or the independent judicial inquiry.

The opportunity is there. Let us bring it forward and we will have the evidence--