Lost his last election, in 2000, with 19% of the vote.
Access To Information June 11th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Deputy Prime Minister. Yesterday the Liberal government hid behind legal technicalities to avoid releasing 363 pages of documents withheld by HRDC to my access to information requests on Yvon Duhaime and Pierre Thibault. I have appealed to the information commissioner.
If the government abides by the Access to Information Act, will it respect the information commissioner's decision on my appeal, yes or no?
Prime Minister June 10th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, when HRDC withholds 363 pages of my access to information requests on Pierre Thibault and Yvon Duhaime, the government cannot claim full disclosure. When the Liberal industry committee chair prevents the Prime Minister's trustee from testifying in public, the government cannot claim full disclosure.
If the Prime Minister is innocent of these charges, why is he afraid of releasing all of the documents, letting his trustee testify and calling in the auditor general?
Prime Minister June 10th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, Canadians need more than the Prime Minister's word to believe his claims of his integrity. They need more than the word of an ethics counsellor who has no independence, no clout and no teeth. They are not getting real answers from the Prime Minister.
Once again I ask the Prime Minister, will he take politics out of the search for the truth and ask the auditor general to review these three projects?
Taxation June 4th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, the federal Liberals broke promise after promise, from free trade to the GST, from health care to an independent ethics counsellor. The Harris Conservatives took a different approach. They said what they would do before an election and actually delivered. While the Liberals are the party of trickery, cynicism and low integrity, the Conservatives are the party of honesty, hope and opportunity.
Will the Deputy Prime Minister tell Ontario voters why they should trust the Liberals when Conservative policies have caused Ontario to grow and the federal government to balance its books?
Taxation June 4th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, yesterday Ontario voters re-elected a Conservative government that cut taxes by 30%. They gave Mike Harris a strong mandate to continue cutting taxes for Ontario families, communities and businesses. This morning Premier Harris said that federal taxes are too high and are a barrier to job creation, investment and growth.
My question is for the Deputy Prime Minister. When will the Liberals follow the lead of Mike Harris and cut taxes?
Ontario Election June 4th, 1999
Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada I congratulate Premier Mike Harris and the Ontario Conservatives for their convincing re-election to government.
Premier Harris and his team have shown that reducing taxes is one of the fundamental tools to create jobs and spur economic growth, economic growth which generates the revenues needed for quality health care and education. Ontario embraced progressive change to get the province back on track, reversing the status quo of failed Liberal and NDP policies.
Voters from my province are also hungry for a similar agenda for change at the federal level. Last week's Gallup poll shows that the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada is the clear choice of 31% of the Ontario electorate. Just as Ontario voters chose the provincial Conservatives yesterday, Ontario voters are starting to choose the federal Conservatives as the only true alternative to the federal Liberals.
Canada Elections Act June 3rd, 1999
Madam Speaker, it gives me no great pleasure to rise on this issue tonight during adjournment debate because the Prime Minister continues to evade, avoid and delay on the important question of why close to $9 million of government grants, loans and contracts end up in the hands of a select few: a criminal, a fraud artist and the Prime Minister's single biggest contributor in the last federal election.
The Prime Minister had the arrogance to stand before the House this afternoon and say that these shady Shawinigan shenanigans will help his re-election efforts.
I do not think the people of Saint-Maurice are all that impressed that the Prime Minister's office intervenes on behalf of a convicted criminal, with Yvon Duhaime getting close to $900,000 in grants and loans. I do not think they are impressed that someone with a record of not paying his taxes, not paying his creditors, should get his hands on their money.
Let us not forget the hotel owned by Mr. Duhaime, which he bought from the holding company in which the Prime Minister has a financial interest, was in serious financial difficulty prior to the Prime Minister's largesse starting to roll in.
Montreal business consultant Yvon Plante, MBA, stated in a March 27, 1997 report that the Grand-Mère Inn had a long term debt of $1.49 million, $350,000 above a manageable level; lacked $250,000 in working capital and required a $350,000 investment; had compiled $330,204 in unpaid bills, an amount considered by Mr. Plante to be three times an acceptable level for a company of its size; had scheduled mortgage loan payments totalling on average more than $210,000 annually between 1998 and 2002, payments which Mr. Plante viewed as unthinkable given the firm's financial situation at the time; had no well trained accountant; had no budget; and had no standard bookkeeping system, resulting in management not being able to obtain a monthly financial statement of the company's revenues versus expenses.
Furthermore, a final report submitted by Mr. Plante to the Government of Quebec on May 8, 1998, concluded that the Grand-Mère Inn's accounting system and budget planning had shown no improvement in one year.
If someone with a track record like Yvon Duhaime and the Grand-Mère Inn asked for more money from a bank or from private investors, they would be laughed off the street. Yet somehow the Prime Minister defends this type of government spending as working for his riding.
Is it working for criminals like Yvon Duhaime? Yes. Is it working for admitted fraud artists like Pierre Thibault? Yes. Is it working for Liberal Party financial donors like Claude Gauthier? Absolutely. Is it working for Saint-Maurice? Well, judging the high rates of unemployment and poverty in that region of Quebec, this apparent brand of “I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine” politics does not seem to be too effective.
Now the parliamentary secretary will no doubt stand up and say that everything was above-board with respect to the $6.3 million CIDA contracts.
If this is true, I challenge the government to prove it by releasing all the documents related to the awarding of the contract. Certainly Markham Electric, a company in my riding which lost the CIDA bid to Mr. Gauthier's company, would appreciate a substantive answer. Certainly the taxpayers would appreciate an answer on whether it takes $43,000 in donations to the Prime Minister's campaign and the Liberal Party of Canada to obtain multimillion dollar contracts.
Nobody wants to unduly besmirch the Prime Minister's name, but if everything was above-board, let him release all the documents related to these funding decisions and let them call in the auditor general to audit these deals.
Standing Committee On Industry June 3rd, 1999
Mr. Speaker, ethics counsellor Howard Wilson appeared last month before this committee and he established that the conflict of interest code falls under the industry committee's mandate. Debbie Weinstein is appointed and governed by this code. Mr. Wilson also said it is Ms. Weinstein's decision whether she should appear before the industry committee.
Will the Prime Minister instruct his trustee to answer questions from a legislative body based on her comments in the media?
Standing Committee On Industry June 3rd, 1999
Mr. Speaker, today the Prime Minister passed the buck to his trustee Debbie Weinstein. However, while Debbie Weinstein is allowed to speak to reporters, the Liberal industry committee chair will not allow my motion to summon Ms. Weinstein for questioning to be considered. The Prime Minister claims he welcomes open debate but his Liberal pawns suggest otherwise.
Will he therefore ask his trustee to appear before the industry committee or will he let the chair fight his own battles?
Ontario Election June 3rd, 1999
Mr. Speaker, today is election day in Ontario and Conservatives have reason to be proud. Premier Mike Harris has reversed a decade of Liberal-NDP mismanagement by building an economy with an economic growth that is double that of the rest of Canada.
He has cut taxes. He has spent more on health care than any other government in the history of Ontario. He has brought change to education that drew the endorsement this week of Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty. In short, Premier Harris has delivered on the promises he made in 1995, a principle unknown among Liberals both federally and provincially.
In my riding of Markham I have proudly campaigned for cabinet minister, MPP and former town council colleague Dave Tsubouchi. In the past months the Right Hon. Joe Clark has raised money for the PC Ontario fund and campaigned for candidates Annamarie Castrilli, Judy Burns and transport minister Tony Clement.
On behalf of the PC Party of Canada I wish Mike Harris and his candidates all the best as they await the judgment of Ontario voters.