Gilles Duceppe

[Government Contracts, June 10th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, Howard Wilson is doing a very good job, which is to clear any member of the government at all cost. I can understand why the Prime Minister would be proud of him.

The Prime Minister can try as he might to distance himself from this issue, the fact remains that Alfonso Gagliano was his right-hand man and was totally devoted to his employer, saying, “He's the boss. I served the way he wanted me to serve”. He did exactly what the Prime Minister wanted him to do. Alfonso Gagliano took his orders from the Prime Minister.

Will the Prime Minister admit that the reason he is clinging to the bogus advice of this so-called ethics counsellor is to protect himself and not have his reputation tarnished just weeks from his retirement?

[Government Contracts, June 10th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, two years ago, the Prime Minister's ethics counsellor concluded that Alfonso Gagliano did not extend preferential treatment to his son's employer. Now we hear that Howard Wilson cleared Alfonso Gagliano, the Prime Minister's lieutenant in Quebec, without even auditing the books.

Will the Prime Minister admit that Howard Wilson's real mandate was to protect Alfonso Gagliano, to clear him at all cost, as he did for the Prime Minister, in the midst of an election campaign, in the Auberge Grand-Mère affair?

[Government Contracts, June 9th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the minister was telling us that the government was proactive. In this case, it was Alfonso Gagliano who was truly proactive.

When he was a minister, Alfonso Gagliano categorically denied all allegations of conflict of interest relating to contracts granted by the government and work that these same contracts gave to his son's employer. Alfonso Gagliano stated that his son was not directly or indirectly involved.

Since Vincenzo Gagliano now admits that he benefited from this situation, will the Prime Minister recognize that there was clearly a conflict of interest, and that the very active Alfonso Gagliano deserves being investigated?

[Government Contracts, June 9th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, in the sponsorship scandal, the tightly knit network of firms alluded to by Public Works Canada not only benefited advertising agencies, the Liberal Party, its cronies and their families, but we now learn that the son of Alfonso Gagliano, the minister who orchestrated the entire system, was a huge beneficiary.

Will the Prime Minister admit that there is a direct link: Alfonso Gagliano grants a contract to an intermediary, his son's employer gets the subcontract and, end result, the son collects?

[Softwood Lumber, June 5th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, it is a wonderful thing to study the problem from all angles. We, too, have met with people from the industry. The solutions we are proposing apply to all regions of Canada, to all provinces, and Quebec. They are not just for Quebec.

Why has the government not made loan guarantees available? The time for action is right now, not next fall, not in two years; it is now. For nearly a year we have been told the government is going to do something. The time has come for action. Improve employment insurance. Offer loan guarantees. That is what the industry told us.

[Softwood Lumber, June 5th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the softwood lumber crisis is getting worse and, while the government seems to be oblivious to the industry's cries for help, they have been heeded by the Bloc Quebecois; yesterday we toured the regions of Quebec on a fact-finding mission. The reality is that thousands of workers have lost their jobs in Quebec and 75 sawmills are in serious trouble.

If this increasingly bleak situation is not enough, what will it take to convince the government to act now, to improve employment insurance and offer loan guarantees to businesses that have fallen victim to the softwood lumber crisis?

[Softwood Lumber, June 4th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, while he is telling us that the loan guarantee option is still on the table, the workers can no longer put anything on their dinner table. That is the problem. He ought to realize straight off that there is a problem.

In the fisheries sector, for instance, the government decided to recognize that the workers affected by the cod and crab moratorium are in exceptional circumstances, and so it brought in exceptional income assistance measures.

What I am asking him, therefore, is whether the same could not be done in the case of softwood lumber, to bring in exceptional income assistance measures—since EI measures are inadequate—so that this might be supplemented with such measures as—

[Softwood Lumber, June 4th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, while the Minister for International Trade acknowledges that the crisis in the softwood lumber industry is worsening, and his colleague in Natural Resources confirms that the option of loan guarantees in still on the table, the Secretary of State responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec refuses to act for fear of displeasing the Americans, according to what he said in the House yesterday. Yet the companies are at the end of their rope, and calling for help.

Can the minister confirm that the loan guarantees are legal under international trade rules, and can he explain why he is not making them available to the industry?

[Softwood Lumber, June 3rd, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, everything the minister has mentioned is for the intermediate or long-term. But, the situation is getting worse right now. That is exactly what the Minister for International Trade is telling us. Despite all the wonderful long-term measures, right now, nothing being is being done to help these businesses. This is what is serious.

I hear the minister saying, “If things get worse, aid will be forthcoming”. He has been saying for eight months now, “If things get worse, aid will be forthcoming”. But things have gotten worse and the minister has admitted this. Will he wake up and provide this aid immediately? That is what these businesses need.

[Softwood Lumber, June 3rd, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, last October, the Minister of Natural Resources stated that if the softwood lumber crisis dragged on, the government should increase aid to businesses and workers. Eight months later, in a letter to all the members, the Minister for International Trade is finally acknowledging that the industry's situation has gotten worse.

Will the government now stop assessing the situation, as it repeats ad nauseam, and announce phase 2 of its aid plan for businesses and workers in the softwood lumber industry?