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Crucial Fact

  • His favourite word was made.

Last in Parliament May 2004, as Liberal MP for Ottawa South (Ontario)

Won his last election, in 2000, with 51% of the vote.

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Statements in the House

Defence Industry Conversion October 4th, 1994

Mr. Speaker, it would seem that this member has a great deal of difficulty in understanding my answers.

The approach we are endeavouring to take is one that builds on the appropriate role of government, not only to create an environment in which entrepreneurialism can succeed but also in the defence sector to ensure that using the tools at our disposal we provide information, advice and strategy together with DIPP to try to enable firms to create dual use technologies and to move defence technologies to civilian use.

In the DIPP context-the member knows this very well-of 41 applications approved by the government, 39 have been for civilian or dual use purposes. That is a defence conversion strategy.

Defence Industry Conversion October 4th, 1994

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has asked several questions about the defence industry and the changes it is undergoing. On Sunday evening, the member even made a short speech in English on that issue and I congratulate him for doing so.

I explained on several occasions that the government is not in the business of finding solutions for every company experiencing problems. We are prepared to work with each of them to find new markets, ways of adjusting, strategies, as well as information. The idea is not to simply give money, as suggested several times by the hon. member.

Questions On The Order Paper September 19th, 1994

Public and private infrastructure spending for Canada and each province for the years 1989 to 1993 inclusive has been obtained from Statistics Canada. The current dollar amounts by province are set out in Table 1.

There are no survey measures of the direct and indirect employment impacts. However, rough estimates have been derived using Statistics Canada's input-output model: The overall Canada-wide calculated estimate is 14 jobs per million dollars of spending on infrastructure.

Question No. 8-

Department Of Industry Act September 19th, 1994

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-46, an act to establish the Department of Industry and to amend and repeal certain other acts.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)

Lobbyists June 20th, 1994

Mr. Speaker, the level of understanding that was demonstrated by the member in his speech the other day perhaps is explained by the fact that he did not attend the briefing session that we offered Reform members on the bill.

He should know that influence peddling is covered under the Criminal Code where it belongs and where it will stay with other criminal offences.

With respect to both the role of the ethics counsellor and the introduction of the amendments to the Lobbyists Registration Act, we have met the promises that we made in the red book almost item by item. We did retain the distinction between tiers of lobbyists. We put this proposal to a House of Commons committee before second reading hopefully so that somebody on the other side as well as our own members will take the time to study it and make useful proposals. If he has something to offer let him offer it.

The Environment June 17th, 1994

Mr. Speaker, I will of course pay tribute to the great reputation my colleague from Davenport has on environmental issues and his concerns. When he raises concerns on theses issues we know they come from understanding and heartfelt conviction.

In negotiating this internal trade agreement, for the first time in a trade agreement we are including a chapter dealing with environmental protection. It is the first time we have done that.

Let me say that among the principles we are including-and the council of ministers on the environment has been directly involved in the process and my colleague, the Minister of the Environment, has consulted on it-the environmental chapter will include provisions that will prevent provinces from weakening environmental measures as an inducement for investment. The chapter will encourage upward harmonization of environmental measures. Finally, the chapter will allow for the use of the precautionary principle.

These are key points. I know Reform Party members are not interested in the environment. They are indicating that by their response. We think it is important and I think it is important as well.

Lobbyists Registration Act June 17th, 1994

Mr. Speaker, I move:

That Bill C-43. an act to amend the Lobbyists Registration Act and to make related amendments to other acts be referred forthwith to the Standing Committee on Industry.

Mr. Speaker, the purpose of the motion today is very simple and straightforward. The government wants to provide members of this House with a greater role in preparing legislation through House of Commons committees.

That was a commitment we made in the red book. We honour the commitment to give MPs a greater role today as part of the process of honouring another red book commitment, that of restoring public trust and confidence in the government's decision making process.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister presented a comprehensive reform program, one component of which is the bill now before us today. The proposed amendments to the Lobbyists Registration Act are based on two fundamental principles, principles which are shared by my colleagues in this House.

The first is that all Canadians have a right to approach their government without employing lobbyists. The second belief that forms the basis for the legislation before us is that lobbying must be transparent so that Canadians can have confidence that decisions are based upon merit.

It is with these principles in mind that the Prime Minister announced yesterday the creation of the position of ethics counsellor.

In the red book, we pledged that a Liberal government would appoint an ethics counsellor who would be available to advise lobbyists and their clients on how to do business with the federal government.

The ethics counsellor would also have the task of drafting a code of ethics for lobbyists which would define behaviour standards in the industry.

This bill gives the ethics counsellor the powers necessary to investigate lobbying activities contrary to the code. The counsellor will be able to report publicly on breaches of the code and will have the power to disclose publicly the fees charged by lobbyists in pursuit of government contracts where it is in the public interest to do so. This will provide a strong incentive for lobbying firms to abide by the spirit of openness and transparency that is at the heart of the reforms before us today.

The other reforms in the bill before us build upon the requirements in the Lobbyists Registration Act which came into effect in 1989.

I would like to remind the House that last year, the Standing Committee on Consumer and Corporate Affairs and Government Operations studied the lobbying issue.

In June of 1993, committee members released a report entitled "A Blueprint for Transparency: Review of the Lobbyists Registration Act".

The committee's report concluded that the Lobbyists Registration Act did not reveal enough about the activities of lobbyists. The report made the case for the disclosure of additional information about lobbyists and their activities and those are the recommendations that have provided the basis for the amendments before us today.

The legislation provides greater transparency in four ways.

First, under the existing Lobbyists Registration Act lobbyists need to disclose only general subject matter. Under the new bill they will have to be very specific.

Second, under the existing legislation lobbyists need not disclose to whom they will be talking. Under the new bill they will have t disclose what departments and governmental agencies they will contact.

Third, under the existing law lobbyists need not disclose how they intend to lobby. Under the new bill they will.

Fourth, under the existing law lobbyists who are employed by organizations such as associations and by companies need only provide their name and business address. Under the new law these in-house lobbyists would disclose the broad subject matter of the lobbying and detailed subject matter of their lobbying efforts, including the name of the legislative proposal, bill or resolution, policy, regulation, grant, contribution or other financial benefit and they would register the name of the departments or governmental agencies to be contacted.

The government has decided to maintain the distinction between consultant lobbyists and in-house lobbyists who work either for an organization or a corporation. We believe there is a major difference between these two types of lobbyists, both in terms of the nature of their activities and their status.

Consultant lobbyists work somewhat independently under contract on behalf of a client. Unless they file detailed returns on the nature of their client's interests, it is impossible to say that their activities are transparent.

Organization lobbyists, on the other hand, work for associations that are formed by their members to pursue their common objectives. The objectives of the associations are generally well publicized and in a similar way corporate lobbyists clearly and legitimately pursue their own company's interests. Most important, all lobbyists will be required to disclose both more information and information that is more meaningful than is now the case.

This legislation has gone a great distance to shed more light on the activities of all lobbyists so that Canadians can assure themselves the system is not being abused.

In this regard several proposed changes have been introduced to improve the administration and enforcement of the provisions of the act. The limitation period for laying charges in summary proceedings will be increased from the current six month period to two years to strengthen the RCMP's ability to enforce the act.

At the registrar's request, lobbyists will be required to clarify the information contained in the returns that they have filed. Lobbyists will also be allowed to file their returns electronically to avoid an unnecessary paper trail and to accelerate the disclosure process.

The first of our two principles, I would remind the House, is that all Canadians have a right to approach their government. They do not require lobbyists.

I hope that in the coming weeks, we will all benefit from the advice and counsel of Canadians who will be asked to present their views on this bill to the committee.

I look forward to hearing new ideas that the committee may propose and we are willing to amend this bill if it means providing a piece of legislation that will do more to earn the trust and confidence of Canadians in the decision making process.

Ethics Counsellor June 16th, 1994

Mr. Speaker, the question being raised concerning the ethics counsellor misses

the point. What the hon. member should be noting is that, at the present time, there is no ethics counsellor and no reports have been filed.

The government has moved forward on a number of important commitments that were contained in the red book: commitments to fulfil the report of the standing committee of the House of Commons from last June; the commitment to appoint an ethics counsellor; the commitment to give him investigatory powers; the commitment to stop the contingency fees that were polluting the government procurement process.

These are important commitments. We have met them. They should be applauding us.

Lobbyists Registration Act June 16th, 1994

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-43, an act to amend the Lobbyists Registration Act and to make related amendments to other acts.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)

Small Business June 15th, 1994

Mr. Speaker, over the last few months in the ongoing work in the industry committee, which in fact I appeared before yesterday to discuss small business issues, we have seen a very co-operative effort among members from all three parties with respect to focusing on the issues which concern small business.

With respect to the level of taxes and the regulatory burden together with issues such as access to capital and the ability to apply new technologies, there is a co-operative effort under way to particularly address the issues that concern small business.

It is clear from the studies with respect to the impact of small business on the Canadian economy that is where the job creation will be. If we can continue to work co-operatively with our friends across the floor looking for solutions that address particular problems, then we can put together a package building on the initiatives the government has already announced, building on the promises we made in the red book and which we are fulfilling to help that sector create jobs.