Gerry Ritz

[Government Expenditures, May 8th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the prime Minister called home today and said that if there was any wrongdoing then those people would face the justice.

The auditor general has found plenty of wrongdoing: inflated contracts, contracts with no receipts, unqualified sole sourced contractors, all wrapped up with contributions back to the Liberal Party. All Canadian taxpayers demand justice on the mess the Liberals have made of their politically driven handout programs.

Will the Prime Minister allow his exiled crony in Denmark to come home and face the music or will the new public works minister take the fall?

[Supply, May 7th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, it was interesting to listen to the member's comments which went round and round in a self-serving way. There was a bit of a diatribe and rant on the darn old Americans who dare to implement these types of things.

The problem I have with that is it was a five year agreement. Five years ago we knew this was going to come to a head, that something had to be done. Guess what happened? Nothing. Guess who did not do it? It was his government.

For the member to say that the Americans are terrible for implementing this and so on, I find a little hard to take. He talked about the symptoms but not about the cause.

The cause is that nobody got off their duff here in Ottawa and took to heart that the agreement had to be renewed in five years. Two years ago it was pointed out again and again by members of all the opposition parties that the government had better negotiate with the Americans. It did not happen. Now we hear that type of speech by the member. Why did he not have that speech two years ago? Why did he not press his government to come to grips with this issue then?

[Government Expenditures, May 7th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, these guys handle more pork than Maple Leaf pork packers. When the government gets a report it does not like from the auditor general, it sits on it. Yesterday the public works minister said:

Certainly, I have the intention of doing everything to follow the auditor general's recommendations to have the greatest transparency possible.

Would the Liberals please wire a return trip ticket to the exiled Alfonso Gagliano so he can answer for these mistaken, outrageous abuses of taxpayer money?

[Government Expenditures, May 7th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, even the Prime Minister's own hand-picked Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs disagrees with his party's propaganda program. It is absolutely laughable that separatism was somehow averted by slapping a federal logo on every flea market and fishing tournament after the Quebec referendum in 1995.

In 1993 the Prime Minister bragged that he would take a pencil and write “zero helicopters”. Why will he not take that same pencil and write “zero pork”?

[Supply, May 6th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I just realized I will not have to do much in the way of fertilizing this year. I will just scatter the member's Hansard record on the field and I will have a bounteous crop with the fertilizer he just spread.

He went on and on about how the Liberals are taking their time to come up with sound policy that will benefit the future of farming and that farmers will be better off in the future because of the sound policy. What about the present? These folks have to get through this year. They have come through three or four bad years.

There are programs that the government did implement and AIDA and CFIP, the son of AIDA. The member talked glowingly about the $1 billion that went in. Of the farmers in Saskatchewan that I represent, nobody qualified. Most of it was eaten up in administration. The problem we are running into now is that the people who did qualify for a few nickels and dimes in 1998 are having it clawed back because the rules were changed arbitrarily. It is being clawed back plus interest and penalties.

I would like the member to explain to my farmers why when they finally received a few nickels and dimes from the government, the rules were changed arbitrarily, retroactively. It is being clawed back plus interest and penalties. Anywhere else that would be called loansharking.

[Government Expenditures, May 6th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, if the auditor general is really and truly an officer of parliament, why did the briefing this morning only include cabinet ministers from that side? How were we left out if she answers directly to parliament?

One of the especially odorous examples of the political manipulating under the sponsorship scheme involved the Deputy Prime Minister. He forced public works to spend another $150,000 to advertise how great the government is in Ottawa.

Considering the federal government is the biggest employer, the biggest purchaser, the biggest landlord and the all around biggest presence in the city, I wonder how the government can account for this decision other than to say it is political pork-barrelling.

[Government Expenditures, May 6th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I guess I would throw it back to the Prime Minister. If he wants to make those kinds of accusations, he can make them outside the House and then we will have some real fun with him.

Consistent poor management and political interference from the front bench of the Liberals have caused millions of tax dollars to be wasted, and it is all self-serving government grandstanding that is paid for. It seems that Groupaction is only the tip of the iceberg. Public works says it has solved the problem, but thanks to its track record nobody believes that line.

Will the Prime Minister listen to the advice of his own auditor general and call in the RCMP to clear up the mess?

[Leadership Campaigns, May 2nd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, it is great to have guidelines but if nobody enforces them they are really just lines on a piece of paper that mean nothing.

The minister of fisheries made no apology for this blatant abuse of tax dollars. Here is what he told the Canadian press when they took him to task for using the DFO surveillance plane for his politicking. He stated:

I'm a politician and I'm campaigning all the time...I can't stop it. I'm always getting ready for the next election.

Will the Prime Minister stop floundering and just release his minister of fisheries?

[Leadership Campaigns, May 2nd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, sadly, the promotion of partisan activity at taxpayer expense was not restricted to the industry minister, the finance minister or the heritage minister. Taxpayers were left on the hook yesterday when the minister of fisheries was caught poaching a DFO surveillance plane to attend a Liberal campaign rally.

Could the Prime Minister explain why his minister is trolling for votes at taxpayer expense?

[Mountain Pine Beetle, April 30th, 2002]

Madam Speaker, taxpayers sending in their cheques tonight so they will be on time, must be shuddering when they hear that this department, which sole sources contracts and which is in charge of $10.5 billion, cannot keep track of its day to day operations. They probably can hear the toilet flush as they send in their cheques.

The auditor general also made comments on the over $7 billion that slid into the wrong pigeon hole. I guess pigeon is not a good word to use around here right now. The department is not accountable to parliament or to the auditor general. She cannot get in there to do an audit.

The member made reference to the $550 million to set up the Canada Health Infoway a year ago. It has a fancy board of Liberal directors who have been drawing salaries for this past year, but nothing has been done with that $550 million. Canadian taxpayers are concerned about the condition of their water, sewers, highways and the high cost of health care and education. They must be concerned when they hear that $550 million has been squirreled away into an area that is unaccountable to parliament, unaccountable to the auditor general and unaccountable to taxpayers.