Jean Chrétien

[Ethics, October 23rd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, in 1999 the ethics counsellor told the then solicitor general not to sign an order in council and he never signed the order in council.

[Government Contracts, October 22nd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the ethics counsellor advises members of Parliament, ministers, bureaucrats and so on. He is a counsellor to all of us. These are privileged communications. As the Leader of the Opposition said last week, at the end of the day it is the responsibility of the Prime Minister and I always accept my responsibilities.

[Government Contracts, October 22nd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, it is very clear. The contract was with the former deputy minister, Mr. Nicholson. It was done according to all Treasury Board requirements. The ethics counsellor said that nothing at all in this transaction was against the rules or in conflict of interest.

[Ethics, October 22nd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, in June of this year I announced in the House of Commons in a speech that I was proceeding with a package on ethics. It will be introduced tomorrow in the House of Commons by the Deputy Prime Minister.

We have worked on it during the summer and in the last weeks. We are ready, and tomorrow the Deputy Prime Minister will introduce it in the House of Commons.

[Solicitor General of Canada, October 22nd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, it is very difficult to say that I am not public when I come in and announce it in the House of Commons. I should be appreciated for that. I was waiting for a question and they were not preoccupied with that.

We have made public the letter that was sent to me and my reply, and the correspondence between him and the ethics counsellor. I received the report from the ethics counsellor. He is a counsellor to me. When he is advising me, the ministers, the members of parliament or bureaucrats, these communications are privileged between the adviser and the Prime Minister.

[Solicitor General of Canada, October 22nd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I said in my reply to the solicitor general that I agreed with him, that he had done absolutely nothing wrong and that he had defended the people of P.E.I. He defended the interests of the people of this little province who needed help from the federal government, but in the interest of good governance, he did not want to create the impression that he was fighting for his seat. He will be fighting for his honour. He has been a great minister and I am proud that he served in my cabinet.

[Solicitor General of Canada, October 22nd, 2002]

I'm reporting what he said.

In the case of a public institution owned by the provincial government, the ethics counsellor said that he should not have intervened. To that, the minister disagreed and said that he was resigning because he did not want to defend himself in the House of Commons. He wants to defend himself outside the House of Commons. It is not because he wants to keep his seat, it is--

[Solicitor General of Canada, October 22nd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, a few minutes ago I received a letter from the Solicitor General and with great regret, I have accepted his resignation.

In the case involving Mr. Nicholson, the ethics counsellor said that the Solicitor General had not broken any guidelines but that in the case--

[Kyoto Protocol, October 22nd, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, we are talking with the provinces at this time. We have to prepare a plan that will be implemented over a period of 10 years. It has to be ready by 2012. We are talking with the provinces at this moment and the industry. We are making progress but we have to ratify it at one time. We will ratify it and it will have 10 years to be implemented

[Delegations Abroad, October 10th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I have explained that this is a government's choice. Other governments have decided that this was less of a priority and make use of facilities provided by the Canadian government. This is not what Quebec chose to do and they are entitled to their decision.

I am, however, aware that people, those in my riding for example, would like to see more money available for health, for maintaining emergency services that the government is not maintaining in Shawinigan; there are regular reports on this situation on Quebec television and in the Quebec press.