Mr. Speaker, if that was what was understood, I certainly would apologize for it. I believe what I did was call the member for Pictou—Antigonish--Guysborough a scumbag, not a sweetheart.
Lost his last election, in 2006, with 41% of the vote.
Points of Order November 17th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, if that was what was understood, I certainly would apologize for it. I believe what I did was call the member for Pictou—Antigonish--Guysborough a scumbag, not a sweetheart.
Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act November 15th, 2004
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-21, an act respecting not-for-profit corporations and other corporations without share capital.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)
Crown Corporations November 5th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, we have 46 crowns that range in size from Canada Post, which is a $6 billion a year corporation, to a parking garage in Toronto. The reality is that we have to have a range of solutions for them. What works for one does not work for the other.
As far as the issue of Mr. Feeney goes, if the member reads the testimony or the comments of his own members before that committee, they went to some length to state the excellent qualifications he had.
Privacy November 2nd, 2004
Mr. Speaker, I can assure the hon. member that the government takes this extremely seriously.
I have met with the Privacy Commissioner of Canada who has looked at this situation. We have discussed specifically the CIBC's situation.
I am assured under the legislation passed by this House that we have the tools to address this particular concern.
Privacy November 1st, 2004
Mr. Speaker, contrary to the assertions of the leader of the fourth party in the House, as I have said earlier in the House, this is an extremely serious issue and one which we take very seriously.
The member referenced the Lockheed Martin contract. That contract was rewritten in order to ensure that the data remained in the hands of Canadians.
There are concerns. I have met with the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. She assures me that the new legislation that was passed by this House gives her the authority to deal with private companies that are holding data in Canada.
Privacy October 28th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the member has raised a very important question.
I met recently with the privacy commissioner, Ms. Jennifer Stoddart, to discuss this. She assured me that under the PIPEDA legislation we have all the authority we need to ensure that these incursions do not take place. We are reviewing some of our contracting reviews in the public sector to see if we can strengthen them. I am confident that we have the tools to protect Canadians.
Performance Reports October 28th, 2004
Madam Speaker, as part of a comprehensive effort to inform parliamentarians and Canadians on the government's performance, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the 90 reports on performance on behalf of departments and agencies.
Financial Administration Act October 26th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, absolutely, without question and equivocation, what we want, and I think what every member in the House wants, is excellence in the delivery of public services.
Financial Administration Act October 26th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, I must ask to have at least a half hour just to begin to list the things that I would do in that regard. To deal seriously with this, the member raises a point to which a response is needed.
I call this the modernization of public management. Some of the excesses and concerns that the member identifies are more a product of antiquated systems and antiquated oversight. He has heard me speak many time about the lack of building modern financials when we began to delegate authority without any ability to bring information back.
My short answer to him is yes, I absolutely will, but I will go further than that. We have restored comptrollership. That was something which was taken out. I will not play the game of who took it out or under which government. We could go that way, but in a sense it is irrelevant. At the end of the day we want to get down to building something that is excellent: new comptrollership, new internal audit, new systems for disclosure, more proactive transparency and disclosure of the activities of government. It is in my term as president that we have started posting all the hospitality. Now we are posting all the contracting, I am talking about grants and contributions, and we are aggressively being transparent. That is an important feature in accountability.
As the member will know, I am coming down with the reports on governance, accountability and ministerial responsibility, but it goes beyond that. We are creating a whistleblowing tool. An interesting discussion is going on at the committee right now on how it gets fitted. I am rather enjoying the engagement of the committee as people are struggling with it.
One of the wonderful things about a minority government is that everybody in this chamber is responsible and shares in these decisions. We will craft legislation. When we get away from the heat of question period and get down to the work of actually building legislation that produces excellence. I think the House is up to it and we will do a good job. We all have an interest in that.
Financial Administration Act October 26th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, with unanimous consent, I would take more questions.