John Reynolds

[Government Contracts, May 29th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday's revelation that the Liberal Party's ties to Groupe Everest now reach into the Prime Minister's Office is a cause for concern. We now know that Groupe Everest received an untendered contract to place an ad for the Prime Minister's Canada Day message. We hear from the public works minister that other contracts have been referred to the RCMP.

I would ask the public works minister this. How many more contracts have been referred to the RCMP by either his office or the auditor general and will he freeze all discretionary advertising until the auditor general completes her investigation?

[Government Grants, May 28th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I want to repeat the question again for the solicitor general. Did the solicitor general talk directly with the commissioner of the RCMP, yes or no?

[Government Grants, May 28th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I have a very short question for the solicitor general. Did he or did he not talk to the RCMP Commissioner with regard to grants to Holland College, yes or no?

[Request for Emergency Debate, May 27th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I seek leave pursuant to Standing Order 52 to make a motion for the adjournment of the House.

The scandals and allegations of corruption against the government are a matter of urgency. The issue has become so critical the media is suggesting it is unravelling the government. Canadians are losing confidence in the Liberals' ability to continue carrying out the constitutional duty of providing good government.

We need to discuss the ethical standards of the government and the measures that need to be taken to correct them. When we look to the recent controversies involving ethical conduct by ministers it is uncertain what the standard is. Mr. Gagliano was appointed ambassador to Denmark. The hon. member for York Centre was removed from cabinet. The hon. member for Glengarry--Prescott--Russell was fired and then readmitted to cabinet.

The Prime Minister must immediately establish a uniform standard of ethical conduct for cabinet ministers and members of parliament by an ethics commissioner who reports directly to parliament, as he promised nine years ago. He has waited so long it has festered into a crisis. If the Prime Minister waits until all his friends are paid off before turning off the taps of corruption it will be too late.

Mr. Speaker, if you are tempted to take into account the fact that a supply day is scheduled for tomorrow you will note that the supply day deals with another serious emergency that needs to be addressed. The emergency debate I am requesting under the provisions of Standing Order 52 involves a parliamentary and democratic emergency.

If the Liberals cannot demonstrate they can provide good, honest government the discussion in tomorrow's supply debate or any emergency debate will be redundant. We need a discussion of the government's ethics now. We need to determine if it has the ethical competence to identify and deal with the concerns of Canadians other than those who are friends of the Liberal Party. We need to debate the fact that for nine years the Prime Minister has promised parliament an independent ethics commissioner who would report to parliament. Canadians are demanding it. The timing is excellent.

[Government Contracts, May 27th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, when the Liberals were in the opposition they did not feel the auditor general was good enough and were demanding an independent inquiry of the Tory government of the day. Let me quote the member for Glengarry--Prescott--Russell who said:

Therefore, I would ask the minister the following: when will his old and tired government learn that taxpayers' money does not belong to the Tories and that they cannot use it to reward friends?

He used that statement in asking for an independent inquiry. This House wants one. Why will the government not do it?

[Government Contracts, May 27th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, money for non-existent work is bad and incompetent. Money for non-existent work and a kickback to the Liberal Party is evil and corrupt.

We have heard a lot of questions. We have seen ministers get fired or resign. When is the government going to call an independent inquiry so we can get to the bottom of this issue?

[Supply, May 23rd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for North Vancouver for bringing up a very good point. As he knows we only have 20 minutes to make a speech on supply days. If I had two hours, I could have brought up the Minister of Industry and other issues in the House. I could have brought up the Prime Minister's approval of the purchase of two jets for he and his cabinet while the armed forces in this country are going without helicopters. We cannot even keep troops in Afghanistan because we do not have enough people in the armed forces. I could have brought up a lot more issues, but time only allows so much so we picked out the most obvious cases.

I thank the hon. member for bringing up that issue. There are a lot of other issues we could talk about in the House. The motion will go on all day. I am sure that colleagues of mine in other parties will talk about some of these issues during that time.

[Supply, May 23rd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, we all respect those principles and we respect each other in the House. The fact of the matter is that even a Liberal poll done last week showed that 45% of the people think the government is corrupt. Yes, 69% of people think political people are corrupt because of the type of action that is taking place here right now. That is why we brought up the issue.

I quote the Minister of Canadian Heritage again when she said:

This has to be an unbelievable joke on the part of a Government whose recent history spells corruption of people who sought to take full advantage of the system.

That is what this is all about. Those were Tories. There was no question about that and the minister brought it up. I am saying the same thing is happening right now. That is why we want an independent ethics counsellor in the House. We have been asking for it. If we had that, it would solve a lot of these initial problems because we would have someone to be on the look out.

We also want an independent inquiry to look at this whole issue, which is exactly what those same rat pack members on that side demanded when they were in opposition. They wanted to go after a Tory government that they felt was corrupt at the time. We are just asking for the same things they thought were just fine to ask for when they were in opposition. They can call us all the names they want. We will not stop asking.

New issues crop up every day and they will continue to crop up because the opposition is doing a great job and we intend to keep up that good job.

[Supply, May 23rd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, let us get down to the realities of this. The opposition brought up Shawinigate. Out of that there was a police investigation. Two people were charged and convicted. That happened because that side of the House was involved.

This side of the House brought up the issue before us now just a few weeks ago. The minister of public works called in the auditor general after a lot of pressure from the opposition, and now we have a police investigation. That is the job of the opposition.

When I was elected in 1997, I said I would take my pension. I am just like every member in the House. I said before that if the member for Vancouver Centre deserves a pension, then this member of the House deserves a pension. We all should have the same pension. That has always been my philosophy.

They really get upset over there because we are bringing up issues that police are now investigating. That would not be happening without the issues that are going on over there. The opposition is doing its job. We are proud of the job we have done and we look forward to the next few weeks in the House.

[Supply, May 23rd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister yells across “What about Stornoway?”. I was pleased to live in Stornoway like most other opposition leaders since Confederation. The new leader of our party is pleased to live in Stornoway.

The Leader of the Opposition, like the Prime Minister, has a driver but he does not have nine police cars following him around because he does not need them. He lives in a great, free country where Canadians respect him.

They talk about burying things under tables--