Jane Stewart

[Human Resources Development, February 8th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, we are talking about our approach to remedying this problem. The assistant auditor general said “Right now the minister has said, and the officials have said, that they have aggressively put a program in place that will address these problems immediately.

I have had some discussions with the officials in the department and I must say that they are taking this very, very seriously. They are making it a priority and they are putting a number of things in place immediately”.

[Human Resources Development, February 8th, 2000]

Let me say again, Mr. Speaker, that the strategy we have built is one that has been recognized by the auditor general as being workable.

Let me make another comment on a statement by the assistant auditor general.

[Human Resources Development, February 8th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, again I would draw the hon. member's attention to our six point plan.

Indeed, we point out that we will look at all our active files. If we find that there are issues of overpayment, we will deal with them. If we find that there are cases of fraud or misappropriation, the appropriate authorities will be brought in.

[Human Resources Development, February 8th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, again, there were no rules broken for applications for transitional jobs funds in my riding.

There is a story I would like to tell the House about the member for Edmonton North, who in the darkest times in my riding, when another plant was closing, went there to speak to the employees. She asked “Where is your member of parliament? She is doing nothing for you”.

Then we see them challenging me on the implementation of programs like TJF. It is clear that the Reform Party is only happy when the people of my riding are not working.

[Human Resources Development, February 8th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, again, no rules were ever broken with applications for programs in my riding.

The hon. member is talking about transitional jobs fund programs in areas over 12%. Let us look at where those programs and projects were approved: in the riding of Kootenay—Columbia, six projects, with a value of $3.5 million; in the riding of Nanaimo—Alberni, seven projects, $2.3 million; in the riding of Nanaimo—Cowichan, six projects, $1.5 million.

[Human Resources Development, February 8th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, this gives me a chance to ask the hon. member to read our six point action plan. If he will understand it he will know that these issues will be dealt with.

First and foremost, the first item is that we will ensure that all payments meet financial requirements. Secondly, and this goes to the point of the hon. member, we will check and correct all problem files.

[Human Resources Development, February 8th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, again, $1 billion has not disappeared. We know where it is. The cheques to every organization and individual indicate where the money has gone.

I am taking my responsibility as minister. I received the information. I made it public. We are implementing a very cohesive plan. This problem will be fixed.

[Human Resources Development, February 8th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, let me review again what has transpired. I, as the Minister of Human Resources Development Canada, received the report on an internal audit. I was not happy with the results of that report.

I insisted on a strong management response that includes a six point plan that has been reviewed with the auditor general, who himself says “In our opinion the proposed approach represents a thorough plan for corrective action to address the immediate control problems that were identified”.

We will work with the auditor general to implement this plan.

[Human Resources Development, February 8th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I want to repeat again for the record that I never said that things were running perfectly in my department. We received information that told us we could do a better job with the management of our grants and contributions. We made that information public. We are now implementing a six point plan and we will stick—

[Human Resources Development, February 7th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I am the minister who received the results of this audit. I am the minister who has taken this seriously. I am the one who is committing to Canadians that we will implement a plan to ensure that this issue is fixed and that our programs will have the integrity that they are depending on.