Lost his last election, in 2006, with 35% of the vote.
Sponsorship Program May 12th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, that question comes from a political party whose whip declared in committee that he intended to take—and I quote—“5 hours and 45 minutes—I will do everything to try and go on longer than that” with the aim of preventing the committee from reporting to the people on what has been done.
That is pure and simple hypocrisy.
Sponsorship Program May 12th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, it is interesting to see that the people who say they want to know what happened are refusing to report to the public on what has been done so far. There is a stark contradiction.
Commissions have been set up precisely to shed light on all this. But they prefer to make assumptions, for political reasons I leave to your imagination, while what we find much more interesting is the truth of the matter. That is why, exactly, there will be a partial report—a preliminary report.
Sponsorship Program May 11th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, they can fish as much as they like, but the fact remains that this is not the way to get at the truth.
The way to get at the truth is to have a responsible parliamentary committee, one which does not beat around the bush but comes up with a report to inform the Canadian public of exactly what it has heard. In Quebec, the people are particularly keen on having such a report. The Canadian public must be able to form an opinion on what went on. They do not want such a report, but we do.
Sponsorship Program May 11th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, this reference to fish reminds me of how much of a fishing expedition the Bloc has been on for some time now in this connection.
The committee met more quickly at the instigation of the Prime Minister. Mechanisms have been put in place to get at the truth. The parliamentary committee has been meeting for more than three months now. It is being asked to produce an interim report so that the Canadian public can know what it has heard so far. What are they hiding in not wanting an interim report?
Sponsorship Program May 11th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, it is always interesting to listen to that party's contradictions as it calls for transparency but refuses to let the Standing Committee on Public Accounts make an interim report to the Canadian people on what they have heard in the past three months of listening to witnesses that included politicians, public servants, and other interested individuals. How can they be transparent—or demand transparency—on the one hand, and on the other hand, prevent the people of Canada from finding out what has really happened in that committee?
Liberal Party of Canada May 10th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, I would like to note first and foremost that this is a matter of internal party politics and I do not know whether it is really an involvement of government operations and accountability.
On the other hand, I want to say that in each political party there are ways of proceeding which are dictated by way of the constitution of the party, which is adopted by the membership of the party. It is not for government to dictate what should take place in each one of the political parties.
Sponsorship Program May 10th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, I really do not understand the question.
Political leaders have appeared before the committee. They were summoned and they came. The committee has, I trust, done a thorough job of questioning both politicians and public servants, as well as other witnesses. It was free to call whomever it wanted. I believe it is perfectly normal for the Canadian public to be made aware of what the committee has done so far. Therefore, it should provide a summary.
Sponsorship Program May 10th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, Charles Guité was arrested this morning on evidence the RCMP saw fit to use. The rest is nothing but gratuitous and totally unfounded allegations, which are part of a vast and totally pointless political dragnet. Frankly, I believe that the Canadian public will be better served by waiting for a progress report from the committee than by listening to allegations of this kind.
Business of the House May 6th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, this afternoon we shall continue with the opposition day motion.
Tomorrow we shall debate the motion to refer to committee before second reading Bill C-34, the bill introduced earlier today respecting dumping of toxic waste by ships. We shall then return to third reading of Bill C-23, the first nations fiscal legislation, Bill C-12, the child protection, and Bill C-10, the cannabis legislation.
Next week, we will continue this business where it has been left on Friday. We will add to the list a motion to refer to committee before second reading a bill to be introduced tomorrow concerning the DNA data bank.
Tuesday and Thursday shall be allotted days.
Hopefully, by the end of the week, we will begin to have some of the legislation now in committee reported back, so that we can get a good start on finishing the work we have to do before the summer adjournment.
Supreme Court of Canada May 6th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, I find it rather interesting that the hon. member would be so unaware of the rules of this House as to not know that when a committee is preparing a report that report remains unofficial until it is tabled and therefore we cannot comment on it.
I would ask the hon. member to respect the rules of this House.