Alexandre Boulerice

[G8 Summit, September 29th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I was expecting the same from the President of the Treasury Board. He should have the courage to rise in the House and answer our questions.

I think that I expressed myself clearly and in proper French. The question had to do with the management of funds in the riding of the member for Parry Sound—Muskoka and not the management of the funds at the Department of Foreign Affairs, unless we have reason to look into the situation there as well.

The NDP revealed new information this week. Can the government at least change its tape and respond to the new discoveries we have revealed?

[G8 Summit, September 29th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, earlier this week, the NDP revealed new information about the unsavoury activities of the President of the Treasury Board and his slush fund. He siphoned off $17 million to build an Olympic-sized arena in Huntsville. His constituency office distributed taxpayer money for secret projects. He even managed to find a job for a friend. What an obliging minister. Meanwhile, the Ontario Provincial Police is investigating the Gravenhurst project, a project in which he was also involved.

Will the minister finally answer questions about his management of public money in his riding?

[G8 Summit, September 28th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for that brilliant response.

Every day we learn about new projects in which the minister was personally involved with the help of his constituency office staffers. He told his friends not to worry, that whatever could not be included in the G8 budget would be included in the economic action plan. That is serious.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs keeps telling us that the Auditor General had access to all the information in order to conduct her investigation. Now that we know that is not true, are we going to start getting real answers?

[Service Canada, September 28th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the scandals involving the President of the Treasury Board keep piling up, while services for Canadians are being cut. People do not understand why there are some rules for his friends and other rules for ordinary people. There is going to be less help available at Service Canada centres, and some are going to close altogether. I am talking about services that directly affect the public and not just his friends.

In the meantime, the minister responsible for the cuts is refusing to answer questions in the House and refusing to talk to journalists. Am I going to have to send my questions to him on Twitter to get him to respond?

[G8 Summit, September 27th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, when the President of the Treasury Board's unofficial spokesperson knows what he is talking about, then he can stand up. Until then, he is not qualified to answer, and the question is not meant for him anyway.

The President of the Treasury Board got a job for his friend at the City of Huntsville. He managed a slush fund with his friends the mayor and the hotel manager. He made funding commitments for government projects in the middle of an election campaign. If the President of the Treasury Board truly believes in ministerial responsibility, he should rise and answer these questions.

[G8 Summit, September 27th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the President of the Treasury Board had a $20 million, Olympic-size arena built in his riding, using money from the border infrastructure fund. He used his constituency office to distribute government money all over the place. In all likelihood, those responsible for the G8 summit hid information from the Auditor General. As they say in baseball, three strikes and you are out.

Why is the President of the Treasury Board still in cabinet? How is it that he has yet to respond to questions addressed to him here in the House?

[Community Activities in the Riding of Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, September 27th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, Quebec's Multi-Ethnic Association for the Integration of Persons with Disabilities, whose head office is in Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. This is a good opportunity to commend the association's excellent work and the determination of its founder and director, Luciana Soave, herself an immigrant and mother of a child with a disability. Her organization helps all immigrants and people with disabilities by offering them services daily and fighting for their rights.

Furthermore, public, community-supported markets are being developed in Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, which is already well known for the Jean-Talon market. One such example is Festi Marché, which makes fresh fruits and vegetables affordable for people on low incomes. Organized by NA Rive, a literacy centre, this market was held last weekend in a school yard. A massive picnic was also held on Shamrock Street, organized by community organizations such as SODER and by the merchants of Little Italy. For the third consecutive year, a non-profit organization coordinated a market for small-scale producers at Technopôle Angus, in the eastern part of the riding. These are just a few of the local initiatives meant to ensure healthy eating habits and food security for our constituents.

[Safe Streets and Communities Act, September 27th, 2011]

Madam Speaker, I would like to mention the excellent work done by my colleague from Gatineau. Once again, her speech highlighted the absurdity of the Conservatives' omnibus bill and the underlying cynicism of this fundamentally ideological and political operation, in which the government is trying to mash together a multitude of completely disparate and diverse measures. The government is creating something that will not sit well with the majority of Canadians and Quebeckers. It is trying to shove this down our throats to score political points with its very conservative and ideological base, and it will try to say that the opposition, regardless of the party, is soft on crime and is on the side of the criminals. That is a very questionable political move.

I have a question for my hon. colleague. Is she concerned about the fact that this bill will transfer huge responsibilities and costs to the Canadian provinces, when many of them—particularly Ontario and Quebec—already have problems with overpopulation in prisons? The government wants to adopt measures to send a bunch of petty criminals to crime school in already overpopulated prisons.

[Government Spending, September 22nd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, thanks to the Conservatives' enlightening explanations, we have learned that for every $1 spent on consulting, we expect to save $200. The way they see it, the more we spend, the more we save. That is not really a logic that I would suggest to Canadian families right now. The reality is that with this amount of money, we could create 450 good jobs that would guarantee good public services.

Today we learned that at Public Works and Government Services Canada alone, consulting fees have doubled and have reached $1.8 billion.

Has the government lost all control over public spending?

[Government Spending, September 22nd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives thought that it was a good idea to offer $90,000 a day on a silver platter to a consulting firm with annual revenues of over $3 billion. Let us be clear: this $20 million of public money that is going into the pockets of Deloitte is equivalent to the operating budget of the Club des petits déjeuners du Québec for two years.

Do the Conservatives at least realize how out of touch they are with the priorities and needs of the people?