Grant Hill

[Government Contracts, May 21st, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, to me it looks like the Prime Minister likes secrets.

Here is another issue. Transelec, a company from the Prime Minister's riding, got a questionable contract for $6.3 million. Now it is up by $1.3 million because of cost overruns.

Will the Prime Minister stand in the House today and tell the Canadian public that we will not waste another nickel of taxpayers' money on this company?

[Government Contracts, May 10th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, let us punch the replay button on the minister. Ten years ago this is what he said when he was on this side of the House:

I wish the minister would tell us when the government will stop its futile exercise in patronage and propaganda and finally put its money where it is needed...not by rewarding Conservative advertising companies.

Why do we not just put Liberal advertising companies in that statement? Why does the minister not stop the patronage and sleaze?

[Government Contracts, May 10th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, it is not thin air, it is pungent air.

The auditor general looked at three contracts and she found things so bad that she called in the RCMP. There is something the government can do right today. While the RCMP investigation is going on, it could stop all discretionary advertising spending. Will it do that?

[Member for West Vancouver--Sunshine Coast, May 10th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the official opposition has just gone through a leadership race which resulted in a brand new leader, Stephen Harper.

During the race, my seatmate, the member for West Vancouver--Sunshine Coast, held down the fort. Quiet, reserved, invisible he is not. Open, straightforward and forceful he is. The interim leader's role can be a ceremonial job, almost a holiday. I can honestly say that I have never seen him work so hard.

He and his wife Yvonne have fulfilled the role of leader and first lady of the official opposition and the Canadian Alliance with vigour and style.

In this, the last question period for the interim leader, let me express my sincere personal thanks for a superb job well done.

[Government Contracts, May 9th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I suppose directing attention to someone else might be a good tactic but on this one the minister will not to get away with it.

This is about a culture of corruption. The minister, when stood on this side of the House, said that a culture of corruption should be wiped out. He was right. When are we going to wipe out the culture of corruption that exists over there?

[Government Contracts, May 9th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, let us say again that the RCMP investigation is just fine for criminal matters and the auditor general, an independent officer of this House, has done a real good job with the accounting and business practices. What about the culture of corruption that we see across the way? Who will look after the culture of corruption?

[Commissions of Inquiry, May 8th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, let us try the Krever inquiry which was an independent inquiry. The government let him complete his inquiry and then it completely ignored him. Krever said that compensation should be given to every single victim of hepatitis C but the government said no.

Will the government say no when this investigation is completed or will it listen to it?

[Commissions of Inquiry, May 8th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, that he did. He gave money to the tulips instead of the firefighters.

Let us look at the government's record when it comes to inquiries. We had an inquiry on the Somalia issue but when it got too close to the truth it was shut down. Will this inquiry be listened to by the government or will it be shut down if it gets too close to the sleaze and corruption?

[Government Expenditures, May 7th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, one thing we know about the unity the Liberals foster is that they give money to the teams in one part of the country and nothing to the others.

Let us go back to the question I asked in the first place. Groupaction received $1 million from the government. It gave $70,000 back to the Liberal party of Canada. I ask this again. Will that be part of the RCMP investigation? Yes or no.

[Government Expenditures, May 7th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, that was for 5,000 firemen. It had nothing to do with the riding of the Leader of the Opposition.

Let us go over the Groupaction file in more depth. The government gave $1 million to Groupaction and then Groupaction gave $70,000 to the Liberal Party of Canada. My question is straightforward. Will those donations also be a part of the RCMP investigation?