Jane Stewart

[Human Resources Development, June 6th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, let us look at what my input did do. It strengthened the management response. It made sure that the internal audit was made public. It helped write the six point plan that is supported by the auditor general and is now being implemented. And it made sure that 17,000 active files in my department were reviewed.

What we have shown today is that it has never been about money as that party always suggests. It is not about money. It is about making sure we have a strong administrative platform on which to support these important grants and contributions.

[Human Resources Development, June 6th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, perhaps you have noticed, in the tone of the question from the opposition member, that yet again it is really nothing but an insult. I remember that it was that party in 1993 that said it was coming to the House of Commons to improve decorum. Whatever happened to that?

[Human Resources Development, June 6th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, we have been over this countless times and we will go over it once again.

More than a year ago the department identified that it should do an internal audit on its grants and contributions. Over the course of a period of time the audit was undertaken. The audit was not even complete during the timeframe to which the hon. member has made reference, which was the summer. The auditors were still in the field collecting information.

As I have said before, as a result of the preliminary findings the department took action, which is as it should be. I can tell the House that the first time I was briefed on the internal audit was on November 17, and that was appropriate.

[Human Resources Development, June 6th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member talks about flushing $500 million out in programs. Do members know what those programs included? They included programs that gave young people who were on the streets the opportunity to come into a place with a roof over their heads and to get some training and self-respect. In this particular case, I am thinking of the Servants Anonymous Society in the city of Calgary where a young woman turned to me and said “Without this grant I would be dead”.

Is the hon. member suggesting those were tax dollars that were unwisely spent? If she is, she should say so.

[Human Resources Development, June 6th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member makes reference to the top bureaucrats and the people in my department. I just want to say to the House, and particularly to that member, that the members of the Department of Human Resources Development have been working around the clock, 24 hours a day, to improve the administration of grants and contributions because they agree with the government that those contributions make a difference in the lives of Canadians in every part of the country, including the hon. member's riding.

[Human Resources Development, June 6th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, all I would like to say is that no accusations and no insults will change the facts in this case.

What is clear is that the department has taken the work of the internal audit very seriously. We have provided that information to the Canadian public. We have shown them how we are going to make improvements and we have actually shown them that we have made improvements.

[Human Resources Development, June 5th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, these questions today come as a result of information that was released by my department subject to an access request. The parties opposite are asking questions, the same questions they asked months ago, for which I provided answers months ago. What is so interesting here is that the answers remain the same. There is nothing new here despite the sinister suggestions of the opposition.

This is about mundane scheduling. This is about the process of government. This is about a department that was responding to preliminary results of an internal audit and then preparing to brief the minister, nothing more.

[Human Resources Development, June 5th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to the question of the internal audit, that comprehensive review of all the programs in my department, I was briefed on November 17.

[Human Resources Development, June 5th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, did I show I was unconcerned by making the internal audit public? Did I show I was unconcerned by bringing 10,000 pages of documentation to the House to demonstrate where the grants and contributions went and where that money that is so important to us is invested?

Did I show I was unconcerned by asking my department to review 17,000 files to prove that a billion dollars was not missing but that it was a question of paperwork and to show that we can indeed create a new system of administration to support these grants and contributions? I think not.

[Human Resources Development, June 5th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, now we get to the heart of the problem, the problem we have always known to be the truth, that that party does not believe the government has any business working with Canadians from coast to coast to coast to help them with their problems.

Again we see that party wants nothing but tax cuts, but on this side of the House we are prepared to defend, to support and to ensure that we have the administrative structure in place to be sure that we can help Canadians with disabilities, help young people who are having difficulty finding work and Canadians who want to improve their literacy skills. That is what we believe in.