Gilles Duceppe

[The Budget, March 23rd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Conservative government tabled a budget that ignores the needs of Quebeckers. This budget confirms what we have known for quite some time: the Conservatives have abandoned Quebec.

Does the Prime Minister realize that this bad budget, combined with his many affronts to democracy and his contempts of Parliament, confirm only one thing: Quebeckers can no longer have confidence in such a government?

[Ethics, March 22nd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, this is the height of hypocrisy. He says they have instituted strong rules. But after the Prime Minister appointed someone to his office who made important decisions, someone who had been disbarred, someone who was sentenced to a prison term, how can he stand here today and say that there are strong rules? If those are strong rules, I would like to see lax ones.

[Ethics, March 22nd, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's attitude towards the issues of his former deputy chief of staff, Bruce Carson, is worrying at best. Not only did Carson act as a lobbyist when it was illegal for him to do so, but he did so in order to obtain a contract for his girlfriend, an escort. The most surprising part was learning that Mr. Carson had been disbarred for embezzlement and sentenced to prison.

Will this Prime Minister, who loves to be in control, admit that he made a terrible error in judgment by appointing Bruce Carson to an important position within his office?

[Sales Tax Harmonization, March 21st, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, things are on track, but the train left the station 19 years ago. It is high time for the government to take action. Things moved quickly for British Columbia and for Ontario. It is a matter of political will. That is what it boils down to. If it was done for the others, why is it not being done for Quebec?

[Sales Tax Harmonization, March 21st, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, Quebec's finance minister, Raymond Bachand, said that negotiations between Quebec and Ottawa regarding harmonizing GST with sales tax are far enough along to conclude an agreement. He even sent a draft agreement to his federal counterpart on February 22. The ball is in the Conservative government's court.

Will the minister finally resolve the sales tax harmonization issue and include in the budget the $2.2 billion the federal government has owed Quebec for years now?

[International Co-operation, March 10th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, in honour of the Genie Awards tonight, I imagine that a screenwriter could have presented a film entitled Approved or Not Approved, financed with public money, and, in the category of best supporting actress, we could have seen the Minister of International Cooperation, and in the categories of best director, best actor and best makeup, we could have seen the Prime Minister himself.

Will the government admit that it has utterly failed to deliver on its election promises of more transparency and ethics?

[International Co-operation, March 10th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, after you issued your ruling regarding the government, we are stuck in the unfortunate position of judging the bad person, the Minister of International Cooperation, who is accused of being in contempt for misleading Parliament. But it seems clear that it was the Prime Minister who was pulling the strings in this case.

Does the Minister of International Cooperation realize that she will pay the price for the Prime Minister's decisions?

[Political Financing, March 9th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, Elections Canada has ruled: the money that the Conservative Party obtained through the in and out scheme is illegal.

Will the Prime Minister—who accused the Liberals of campaigning with dirty money, I should point out—ask the Conservative Party to reimburse the money that it illegally obtained?

[Political Financing, March 9th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative Party can deny the facts, invent figures and make excuses all it wants, but it is the only party that misused public funds and is the only party that was accused by Elections Canada, which recently ruled that the party had violated the financing rules during the 2005-06 election. And now we have learned that the Prime Minister's current chief of staff, Nigel Wright, knew about the in and out scheme.

Does that not prove that the Prime Minister authorized this misuse of public funds for partisan purposes, thus violating the Canada Elections Act?

[Citizenship and Immigration, March 8th, 2011]

Mr. Speaker, I mentioned the minister's office hours. As he said yesterday, the work was done during office hours. That is the second contradiction. If no mistake was made, why is the minister apologizing? What is he apologizing for? If he is apologizing for a mistake, then he is responsible. Otherwise, he should not apologize. As the minister, he has no choice but to resign if he is responsible. That is what ministerial responsibility looks like.