Reg Alcock

[Privilege, March 10th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, let me try to deal with this in two or three parts.

If I understand the member correctly, the first part of the claim is that in the news release we indicated that we were tabling the main estimates and somehow we had a secret plan to table a second set of estimates. The secret plan was in the backgrounder to the same news release, so there was no attempt to do anything in secret.

Let me just explain to the member that in addition to reading Marleau and Montpetit he might want to read the standing orders of the House of Commons which require the government to put down the main estimates before the end of February. At that time we had not completed, and will not have completed for some time, all the reallocations and reapportionings that occur because of the changes. The legislation to restructure departments has not been passed in the House, et cetera.

We have met our requirement to put the mains down, but because of the work done by the Speaker, in a former life in the House, the former whip of our party and the current chair of the public accounts committee, we wanted to go further in the name of transparency.

Therefore, we said, in addition to tabling the estimates, as we have done all the time and which reflects the current financial position of the House, because we know there will be further division of the assets and the responsibilities between those departments after the House has passed the legislation, that we will come forward and reflect those changes in an additional presentation to the House, in the name of absolute transparency so the members will have absolutely accurate information. This is an enhancement of democratic responsibility, not a reduction.

[Sponsorship Program, March 10th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, there has been an enormous amount of discussion about this issue and the changes that took place in the oversight and the policies of the Treasury Board over time, some of which led to a reduction in comptrollership, which is one of the reasons the Prime Minister has been so insistent that we build a modern comptrollership program. It is one of the things he has tasked me with.

If the member has a specific allegation to make about somebody committing a criminal act or some wrongdoing, make it.

[Sponsorship Program, March 9th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, we have a judge, we have an open inquiry, we have the public accounts committee, a second kind of inquiry. Does the member want to substitute another process? The reality is they have the responsibility to ask. They have the ability to answer. They have the ability to call witnesses. If they want this information, they will get it.

[Sponsorship Program, March 9th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, that is the same group that every time there is a problem wants an instant solution. That is the same group that finds people guilty before there is any evidence. That is the same group that rushes to judgment.

Each time we have put in place processes that are clear, open and responsible. If we get the request, the Prime Minister has committed, as he has in the past, to deliver the information.

[Sponsorship Program, March 9th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, just two quick points.

Mr. Gagliano is appearing before the committee next week. The member will be able to ask him any question he wants.

As for being the cabin boy, it is an honour to be a cabin boy on a ship captained by the Prime Minister.

[Sponsorship Program, March 9th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister, in response to this issue, has created not only the most open process ever seen in the House, but he has released an unprecedented number of documents in response to specific requests from the committee. He has done it. He has said he will do it again. All the committee has to do is ask.

[Sponsorship Program, March 9th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I think there is a very simple answer to that question. When the current Prime Minister became finance minister he had a very tough job to do then, and he worked exceptionally hard at it, at getting us out of the deficit. It was a tough job. He did it. He has a new tough job and he is doing it.

[Sponsorship Program, March 9th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member had to reach really far that time. In 1994 in my maiden speech in the House, I spoke about the problem with government having to adapt new systems to modernize management. The current Prime Minister was the person who expressed an interest in that and we had many good discussions about the theory and practice of changing government, theory and practice that he has put into reality with the change at the Treasury Board.

[Sponsorship Program, March 9th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the member for incomplete documents once again accuses the Prime Minister of hiding. In fact, we have every possible tool one could imagine: a wide open public process, a public accounts committee investigation, and an unprecedented release of information.

The Prime Minister has said and we have said we have undertaken that as the committee requests information, it will be made available. I am not sure what the problem is.

[Sponsorship Program, March 8th, 2004]

One more time, Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has called the most open review possible. He has put in a judge who can subpoena people and compel testimony. We have a special counsel seeking the money and we have the public accounts committee. We have had an unprecedented release of confidential information, which is the information upon which they are asking these same questions. All the information is on the table. If the member has a substantive allegation to make, he can add it.