House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 1997, with 54% of the vote.
Canadian Armed Forces October 30th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is right when he says that even salaries would be protected against disclosure, because individual salaries are indeed not disclosed.
If you take a look at the orders in council that are issued, the salary range is provided, not individual salaries, for that very reason, to protect personal information.
Canadian Armed Forces October 30th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has given us his own interpretation of the act. Let me share with you our lawyers' interpretation: "The fees and amounts an individual is entitled to constitute personal information, the disclosure of which is prohibited under the Privacy Act".
While he was indeed a government employee and an employee who served his country well, General Boyle is nevertheless entitled to the same protection against invasion of privacy as any other officer or employee of the government or anyone in the private sector.
Ethics October 30th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, as I stated before, when the statement is made the comptroller's division in a department receives the account, looks at it, decides what is government business and then either reimburses or receives payment for whatever is a personal expenditure.
In order to judge what exactly happened in this case I would need the documents that are printed there. Once again, we have been assured by the departmental comptroller's division that all personal expenditures have been repaid.
Ethics October 30th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, if it is a personal credit card I am not sure I see the problem.
In any case, could I ask the member to send me the papers so I can look at them. I will look at them to see what happened in this case. I think it is quite unfair to make an accusation on the basis of papers that people have not seen. Therefore, if he sends me over the papers I will look at them.
Agriculture October 30th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, the first principle of course is that those who get the benefits of government services should whenever possible be those who pay for the costs. This is where the user pay policy comes from.
In the case of the various departments, the departments are responsible for deciding in which circumstances, for what products and for what groups of users charges are to be paid. Once this is determined they make impact analysis and if they realize that their user fees have affects that were not foreseen or are negative then they are free to change their policies.
For specific initiatives each minister is responsible for their impact analysis. The Treasury Board then looks at the overall policies and if there is any consequence that appears to be improper it is then changed and we amend the policy accordingly.
Ethics October 30th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, in these cases, the card that we use as government travel card is the Diners Club enRoute card on which no interest has to be paid.
The normal procedure is for a member of Parliament to pay directly the amount with his or her cheque and then to send it to the department which then checks the expenditures. The process the member is talking about could not have taken place. I am assured that the member has paid all the payments that were demanded of her and that all her personal expenditures have been reimbursed.
National Defence October 28th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, the answer is quite simply: we do what the law requires.
National Defence October 28th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, the benefits and other amounts paid to individuals by the Government of Canada in such transactions represent personal, privileged information covered under the Privacy Act. This act clearly states that personal information must not be disclosed without the consent of the individual concerned.
Government Expenses October 28th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, in my view the guidelines are clear. I indicated clearly and slowly what they were. In this case the guidelines were followed and the personal expenses were reimbursed. That is the end of it.
Government Expenses October 28th, 1996
Mr. Speaker, I already answered that question last Thursday, and the answer remains the same: government travel cards should be used only for official government business. Whenever they are used for other purposes, all personal expenditures must be fully reimbursed. This is the case here, and I must point out that all but one payments was made even before the access to information request.
The ethics counsellor has been consulted, and conversations have taken place with the member involved. As a result, all personal expenditures have been reimbursed. The hon. member has agreed not to use government credit cards in future for anything except government business.