John Reynolds

[Citizenship Act, March 25th, 2004]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-503, an act to amend the Citizenship Act.

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to introduce a private members' bill, an act to amend the Citizenship Act.

The bill is designed to remedy an injustice in the Canadian Citizenship Act whereby Canadian children, whose parents renounced their Canadian citizenship between 1946 and 1977, automatically lost their Canadian citizenship through no conscious decision of their own.

Regrettably, amendments to the Citizenship Act of 1977 did not make these individuals citizenship retroactive. My bill would make it possible for these individuals to regain their Canadian citizenship without being established as a permanent resident in order to do so.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Petitions, March 24th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition on behalf of British Columbians who are calling upon Parliament to renew the debate on the definition of marriage and to reaffirm its commitment, as it did in 1999, to take all necessary steps to maintain the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

[Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act, March 23rd, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, many prominent Canadians with knowledge or an understanding of the importance of an integrity commissioner say the legislation is flawed.

Whistleblower legislation should cover all aides to cabinet ministers, the Department of National Defence, the RCMP and all other federal agencies.

Will the Prime Minister replace this flawed legislation now and give Parliament the responsibility of seeking out, appointing and supervising an integrity commissioner who will have a real and uncompromised independence in this House?

[Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act, March 23rd, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister just cannot get anything right. He finally brings in new legislation that he can honestly call his own, but he gets it all wrong. Canadians do not want an integrity commissioner who sits comfortably in the lap of a Liberal cabinet minister.

Will the Prime Minister live up to his democratic deficit promise and let Parliament select, appoint and supervise Canada's first integrity commissioner?

[Board of Internal Economy, March 22nd, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health during question period stated that my party did not have a website. I would like to inform him, and to make sure all Canadians are not misled, that we do. It is conservative.ca.

I can understand how he made the mistake because the other day I punched in Groupaction on the computer and up popped the Liberal Party of Canada.

[Sponsorship Program, February 26th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, in fact I did put it on the table. I turned it over to the chairman of the public accounts committee two days ago in a brown envelope, so they have it in that committee.

We have further information that certain federal Liberal Party officials are involved in some sort of negotiation or arbitration concerning the tax dollars sitting in these accounts.

I ask the question again. Has the Prime Minister ordered Liberal Party officials to assist in the investigation by coming forward now with any information they have on these trust accounts and this scandal?

[Sponsorship Program, February 26th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the use of tax dollars from the sponsorship scandal as a Liberal slush fund raises concerns about the integrity of the government.

We have information that one or more officials, past or present, of the Liberal Party of Canada in Quebec were involved in the creation of, or were aware of, certain private trust accounts into which some of that money was deposited.

Has the Prime Minister frozen these accounts pending all investigations of this scandal?

[Petitions, February 13th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I am presenting a petition today on behalf of constituents from my riding of West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast who support the traditional definition of marriage. They ask that Parliament recognize marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

[Government Contracts, February 13th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday on the Terry Moore radio program in British Columbia, the member for Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca said that “The Prime Minister knew about this two years ago but his hands were tied”. What a catch this member was for the Liberals.

However, there is one question remaining. In 1994 the finance minister's executive assistance wrote a memo to the civil service with suggestions, from herself and the minister, of companies to be put on lists for future advertising contracts.

Will the Prime Minister stand today and deny that the memo from his executive assistance was written without his knowledge or without his permission?

[Government Contracts, February 13th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has said again and again that he had no knowledge of the sponsorship corruption. He was out of the loop. He was clueless every day and everywhere he travelled during his 13 year leadership campaign.

I would like to ask the Prime Minister a simple question. Is he still denying today that he has never once intervened personally on behalf of any advertising agencies to get them federal contracts in Quebec or anywhere else in Canada?