Mr. Speaker, like my colleagues, I am pleased to speak in the debate on Bill C-22 and, following them, to shed some light on this bill. This bill absolutely must be clarified because, as you heard in everything they said, there are grey areas, some very dark grey areas, in this bill.
A major topic of the government's red book, the real political manifesto of the Liberal Party of Canada during the election campaign, is to question the disproportionate and decisive influence of behind-the-scenes lobbies on government policies.
The purpose is to restore the image of this same government so that the people again trust their political elite and democracy will experience an unprecedented renewal. The Liberal bible says: "We will develop a Code of Conduct for Public Officials to guide cabinet ministers, members of Parliament, senators, political staff, and public servants in their dealings with lobbyists".
Indeed, a key word in the Liberals' election campaign was openness. However, the reality is quite different. Instead, it shows this party's shameless opportunism and its thirst for power with a view to consolidating the political and financial establishment in Canada.
In the attempted privatization of Pearson airport in Toronto, there is a series of troubling facts that make one seriously question the openness of the Liberal government and of the previous government.
Bill C-22 is a unique opportunity for the Bloc Quebecois to shed light on all the lobbyists who are the real leaders in the old parties, a shadowy area in Canadian politics, Mr. Speaker.
When the federal government published its policy on airport management in Canada in the spring of 1987, it showed that it intended to turn airport management over to local authorities, such as provincial governments, municipalities or boards authorized by federal or provincial legislation. Transport Canada is to provide a safe and efficient airport system. This can be done through appropriate legislation and financial support, without Transport Canada owning an airport.
In the summer of that year, the Conservative government designated Claridge Properties Inc. to build and operate terminal 3 at Pearson. Since then, this consortium owned by Charles Bronfman has had a monopoly. In the first half of the 1990s, he, with the help of the Conservative Party, was in a position to become the sole manager of the airport's three terminals. Not more than a month after his triumph in English Canada last November, the Prime Minister, acting completely contrary to a spirit of openness, asked a former Ontario Liberal minister, Mr. Nixon, to conduct an inquiry behind closed doors, yes, in secret, on this incipient monopoly. As you know, doing something behind closed doors is just the opposite of ensuring transparency. Yet, this is the way these old parties work. Mr. Nixon writes in his report:
Terminal 3 will be privately based and operated for a further 57 years. To contemplate the privatization of the remaining two terminals of this public asset is, in my view, contrary to the public good.
In March 1992, the government blatantly contradicted its political statement by officially requesting proposals for the privatization of terminals 1 and 2 at Pearson airport. The deadline for proposals was 90 days. A 90-day period in this case was not normal, because this was no ordinary call for tenders, since it involved a very complex contract over 57 years. So, why have such a short bidding period, if not to favour those firms which had already expressed an interest, including Claridge Properties Inc. and Paxport, which had already submitted a privatization plan in 1989?
Let me give you some details on Paxport. The Don Matthews Group, which has a 40 per cent interest in this consortium, has links to the Progressive Conservative Party and the Liberal Party. Mr. Matthews was chairman of Brian Mulroney's leadership campaign and is a former chairman of the Conservative Party. When Paxport made its bid following the government offer to privatize terminals 1 and 2 at Pearson, its president was Ray Hession, a former deputy minister of Industry and senior civil servant with Supply and Services where contracts are awarded. In other words, all the key players were related to the previous Liberal governments. The president of Paxport Inc. himself hired the group of lobbyists which was to work on the privatization project for the benefit of the company. He then resigned from his position as president in 1992, once approval of Paxport's bid was confirmed by the government. And there you have it.
In February 1993, Paxport and Claridge Properties Inc. merged and became T1 T2 Limited Partnership. One of the reasons Paxport's bid had been accepted was that it would create healthy competition between the manager of terminals 1 and 2, Paxport, and the manager of terminal 3, Claridge. Consequently, the merging of the two companies had the effect of totally eliminating any such competition. Not to mention that Claridge
managed to acquire a 66 per cent interest in the consortium. So, this is a monopoly.
Claridge Properties Inc. has very close ties to the Liberal Party of Canada. Senator Léo Kolber, who sat on the board of directors of Claridge when the agreements were signed, is the same guy who held a benefit dinner at his home, in Westmount, for the Liberal Party, at $1,000 per guest, where the guest of honour was the current Prime Minister. Now you see why they tried to keep this benefit dinner secret.
Herb Metcalfe, former party organizer for the current Prime Minister, is a lobbyist at Capital Hill Group and represents Claridge Properties. Ramsay Withers, former deputy minister of Transport at the time the request for proposals concerning Terminal 3 at Pearson airport went out, is a Liberal lobbyist who has very close ties to the current Prime Minister.
Given these facts, we have to wonder about the nature of this government and about its ties to the Toronto financial establishment. What about the openness they promised us? What about the ethics? Be serious. What we have here is cover-up and patronage benefiting some private interests at the expense of Canadian taxpayers, and particularly middle-class citizens, which the government always picks on, and the underprivileged. Let us be blunt. The Liberal Party of Canada has always been in cahoots with the financial establishment.
On October 7, 1993, the legal agreement on the privatization of Terminals 1 and 2 was signed. However, Claridge Properties had taken control of T1 T2 Partnership Inc. a few months before, in May of 1993. So, the October agreement was between the government and Pearson Development Corporation.
What is Pearson Development? It is a joint venture partnership which manages operations at all three Pearson airport terminals. Claridge Properties, which is the contractor for terminal 3, holds a 66 per cent interest in Pearson Development and is also the majority shareholder in Paxport, which was awarded the contract in December 1992 for the privatization of Terminals 1 and 2. Once again, so much for transparency and ethics! The least we could say is that the Pearson deal is nothing more than the takeover of all three terminals by a financial power that has a friendly relationship with a so-called democratic government.
Clearly, whether the government is Liberal or Conservative, it is all the same. Today more than ever before, it is increasingly obvious that powerful financial interests, to achieve their ends, will put at the head of the Canadian government a friend who will stop at nothing to stay in power, a person who will have absolutely no regard for the most fundamental rule of transparency and ethics.
Due to the troubling circumstances under which the 1993 agreement was negotiated and executed-