Jane Stewart

[Human Resources Development, June 12th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I would think that member of parliament, more than anyone else, who supports the RCMP would take its conclusions as substantive and final.

I say again on this particular file that the RCMP fully reviewed it and found nothing untoward. That is the end of the story.

[Human Resources Development, June 12th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, let me try to explain again to the other side what actually transpired.

The department asked for a forensic audit on this file. It is because of the comments the hon. member has made that the file was referred to the RCMP. The RCMP has done a complete review of the file against the terms and conditions of the program, as well as other aspects and has found nothing untoward. End of story.

[Human Resources Development, June 12th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the whole point of the exercise is recognizing that in some parts of Canada it is more difficult than in others to create jobs.

Perhaps the hon. member would like to ask the 47 employees of Placeteco who are still employed whether they think the investment was a wise one.

[Human Resources Development, June 12th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the RCMP have completed its review. The file is back with us and as always, we will look at it to see if there is a reason for assessing and establishing an overpayment

[Human Resources Development, June 12th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the opposition may have just received its access to information request information but it does not change the details that were rehashed over weeks in the spring of the year 2000.

I guess what the opposition is telling us is that it is bankrupt of ideas and bankrupt of any issues to deal with to take us back to 1997 and 1998 when things have been reviewed fully and are a matter of public record.

[Human Resources Development, June 12th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I would ask the hon. member why he just does not pay attention to the facts. It was because of that precise indication in the forensic audit that the files were referred to the RCMP. Can he not accept the fact that the RCMP has reviewed the files and in two cases found nothing untoward and dropped the cases? There is one that is still under investigation. If he has questions about that file he should put them to the RCMP.

[Human Resources Development, June 12th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, let me emphasize something the hon. member has said himself. It was the department that commissioned the forensic audit. It was because of the information in the audit that the files were referred to the RCMP. The RCMP has done its work. It has concluded in two files that everything was in order and those files have been dropped. There is a third file that the RCMP is continuing to review and it will do so without my intervention.

[Human Resources Development, June 12th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, in answer to the hon. member's first question, what the Prime Minister was doing was acting as a responsible member of parliament.

[Human Resources Development, June 12th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, maybe the hon. member should ask a number of his own colleagues who made direct representations to me in support of transitional jobs fund projects in their own ridings.

As the hon. member knows, members of parliament did have a role to play in that program. As he also knows, when we are talking about the transitional jobs fund, investments were made right across the country, the majority of them in opposition ridings.

[Human Resources Development, June 12th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, first let me explain to the hon. member that this is not new. This is old news. Let me recap for him the facts once again.

This project received support from the government of Quebec on January 24, 1997. The project was approved by my department on March 7, 1997. Our agreements terminated in March 1999.

The hon. member will know that I answered detailed questions on this file in the House during the spring of 2000. My department asked for a forensic audit to review this file on February 25, 2000. The file was referred to the RCMP in March of that year. It has come back saying there is nothing untoward in this file.