Deborah Grey

[Ethics, November 7th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has said repeatedly that he holds his cabinet ministers to a higher ethical standard. However, in the past three years Canadians have seen little evidence of these higher standards. Minister after minister in the Liberal government has broken the code of conduct for even public office holders. Some are forced to resign while others are staunchly defended by the Prime Minister. Canadians deserve to know why this double standard.

Will the Prime Minister clear up this confusion by simply releasing the secret ethical guideline he has for his cabinet ministers?

[Ethics, November 6th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, we are not moving the goal post; they have moved the guidelines.

Without trying to villainize her at all, I have one question for the junior minister. Has she seen the guidelines and when?

[Ethics, November 6th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I have a question with no preamble for the Secretary of State for Training and Youth. Has she seen these ethical guidelines and, if so, when?

[Jean-Louis Roux, November 5th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, we see it spotted on the front rows here that this Prime Minister simply is incapable of admitting that he has made a mistake. Why is it so difficult to say I am sorry?

We have to move on from here, of course, because there is a vacancy in the lieutenant-governorship of Quebec. Canadians would like to think that the Prime Minister will take more care in

appointing the next lieutenant-governor. The public and the province should be consulted, and merit alone, not loyalty to the Liberal Party, should the Prime Minister's guiding principle.

Now that the Prime Minister is ready to make another appointment, will he consult with the public and the province before appointing Quebec's lieutenant-governor, yes or no?

[Jean-Louis Roux, November 5th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, we are even but I was the only one who got cut off, you will recall.

The Prime Minister is here today and I am really glad to be able to ask him a question. He is fond of saying that the buck stops with him.

The Prime Minister personally appointed Quebec's lieutenant-governor and if he did not know about Mr. Roux's past he certainly should have. Since the truth has now come out, it seems that he would much rather hide and hope things go away.

The sign of a good, strong leader is that if someone needs to be fired, he gets fired. We never see that here in the House of Commons. The Prime Minister always hopes things will go away. Will the Prime Minister accept full responsibility for the appointment of Jean-Louis Roux and will he admit finally, just once, that he has made a mistake?

[Jean-Louis Roux, November 5th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I might remind the Prime Minister that we had a few questions for him yesterday about several things, although he was not here to appreciate them.

[Jean-Louis Roux, November 5th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, Jean-Louis Roux has resigned but Canadians are worried about the government's mishandling of this issue.

They are having a hard time accepting why the government, and yesterday the Deputy Prime Minister, tried to dismiss the wearing of a swastika, which is the most vile symbol in history, as simply a youthful prank.

What Mr. Roux did in 1942 is reprehensible but so is the government's sidestepping of this issue. Instead of trying to deal with it head on, incredibly the Prime Minister still defends him. I ask the Prime Minister now: Will he admit that it was wrong for his government to try to defend the wearing of a swastika? And will he apologize to Canadians for his error in judgment?

[Petitions, November 4th, 1996]

Not at all.

[Petitions, November 4th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, I would like to present a petition containing several signatures from northern Alberta.

The petitioners state that the existing 7 per cent GST is an unjust taxation of reading materials and that education and literacy are critical to the development of our country and a regressive tax on reading handicaps that development.

The petitioners urge all levels of government to demonstrate support of education and literacy by eliminating sales tax on reading materials. They ask Parliament to zero rate books, magazines and newspapers under the GST as the provinces and Ottawa consider harmonizing. Unfortunately, they already have harmonized. The petitioners ask that reading materials be zero rated under the provincial sales taxes as well as GST.

I know, Mr. Speaker, when you were in opposition you spoke so eloquently and harshly about some of the drawbacks of the GST. Therefore, I know you not only appreciate this petition, I am sure you would agree with it.

[Ethics, November 4th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, in fact I think my exact words were that she admitted her mistake and I appreciated the fact that she had done that. Then she said further to that that she had not really made a mistake and everything was okay and the Prime Minister agreed. We have uncovered documents through access to information that are quite clearly contradictory to what she tabled. The bottom line is far deeper than that.

The ethics guidelines that are supposed to be in place for all the cabinet ministers should be made completely public and documented for the Canadian public to see. The government promised integrity in action but all we see is integrity in hiding. The Prime Minister is fond of saying that the buck stops with him. What he does not seem to understand is that the buck stays with the Canadian public. They are the taxpayers.

I ask the Deputy Prime Minister: Why does the Prime Minister stubbornly refuse to let the taxpayers see these phantom guidelines for the ministers when in fact they are their ministers and it is their money?