Lost his last election, in 2006, with 41% of the vote.
Sponsorship Program February 26th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, in the terms of this particular minister, when the finance minister is not signing the 252 million cheques of the government, he is doing other things that are important to the country.
If the President of the Treasury Board is there, the vice-chair does not have to be there. The vice-chair attends meetings when the chair is not present.
Sponsorship Program February 26th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General pointed out in her report and detailed a number of years where money was put in the program. There was $150 million in the first four years, where there were serious deficiencies, and another $100 million afterwards once the program problems had been corrected. As soon as the problems were exposed by the audit, they were fixed and the program continued.
There have not been any complaints about the program. There have been complaints about the activities of some people who received money. Those complaints are the subject of a wide-open public inquiry.
Sponsorship Program February 26th, 2004
I am sorry, Mr. Speaker. There were two parts to the question, and I forgot one of them.
The member did say that after an audit that identified criminal activity was exposed, the government, knowing that, approved more money. If the member would like to table the audit and a statement about criminality, this is the audit that was--
Sponsorship Program February 26th, 2004
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the opportunity to respond to the member's question.
It is true that the money was approved after the fixes were put in place, but the--
Sponsorship Program February 26th, 2004
Well, Mr. Speaker--
Sponsorship Program February 26th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, seven months after the internal audit exposed problems in the program, 37 actions were taken to correct the program and all of the problems.
Sponsorship Program February 26th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the documents that the member refers to are the internal communication documents that were prepared for all people involved when the audit result was put on the website. The audit was put on the website and the documents were prepared to tell people it was up there and what the responses would be.
Sponsorship Program February 26th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the sponsorship program was approved on November 20, 1997.
Contraventions Act February 25th, 2004
You don't know that.
Contraventions Act February 25th, 2004
No, wrong.