Mr. Speaker, the question was not about the loan. The question was about whether Mr. Jean Carle was involved in any way in this file. The Prime Minister cannot pass this off to Pinocchio. He has to answer this himself.
House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2000, with 46% of the vote.
Business Development Bank February 21st, 2001
Mr. Speaker, the question was not about the loan. The question was about whether Mr. Jean Carle was involved in any way in this file. The Prime Minister cannot pass this off to Pinocchio. He has to answer this himself.
Business Development Bank February 21st, 2001
Mr. Speaker, on February 7 I asked the Prime Minister the following:
—whether Mr. Jean Carle was involved in any way in the Auberge Grand-Mère file, either during his tenure in the Prime Minister's Office or in his work with the Business Development Bank.
The Prime Minister replied “The answer is no”. Was the Prime Minister's statement to the House of Commons on February 7 the truth?
Business Development Bank February 20th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, why does the Prime Minister not stand in the House and have the courage to speak for himself and tell us why he assured the House that Mr. Jean Carle was not involved in this file when this memorandum proves the opposite? I would be prepared to lay this memorandum on the table of the House of Commons.
Business Development Bank February 20th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, let me quote from that memorandum to the president of the Business Development Bank.
The memo reads:
Jean Carle gave us the questions and answers that the Prime Minister's office had prepared on the Duhaime file.
This memo confirms the direct involvement of Mr. Jean Carle. Why did the Prime Minister tell the House so categorically on February 7 that Mr. Carle had no involvement in any way in the Auberge Grand-Mère file?
Business Development Bank February 20th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Prime Minister.
I wonder if the Prime Minister would confirm that a memorandum was prepared in the spring of 1999 by officials in the Prime Minister's office and delivered by Mr. Jean Carle through the office of the president of the Business Development Bank proposing answers to inquiries about the Prime Minister's intervention in the Yvon Duhaime and Auberge Grand-Mère file.
Business Development Bank Of Canada February 19th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, perhaps the solicitor general might find out. My question is for the Prime Minister or the Deputy Prime Minister. On January 25, 1999, Peter Donolo said “The government does not get directly involved in the lending decisions of the Business Development Corporation”.
On April 10, 1999, the Prime Minister wrote to the National Post saying ,“I had no direct or indirect personal connection with the hotel or with the auberge with the adjacent golf course”.
On November 16, 2000, the Prime Minister directly contradicted himself, admitting that he called the president of the bank twice and invited him once to 24 Sussex to—
Business Development Bank Of Canada February 19th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the solicitor general. Just before question period I received a letter from the commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police relating to the Auberge Grand-Mère.
Could the solicitor general tell the House whether in its review of the file the Royal Canadian Mounted Police interviewed the two former presidents of the Business Development Bank, Mr. Beaudoin and Mr. Schroder, and will he tell the House whether they interviewed the Prime Minister?
Ethics Counsellor February 15th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, I would prefer to have him address his remarks to the question.
The ethics counsellor told the industry committee that the Prime Minister chose not to go to court to finalize the sale of the Grand-Mère shares. The Deputy Prime Minister knows that a promise to purchase is enforceable in law. An option to purchase is not.
Was the reason that the Prime Minister did not go to court the fact that there was only an option to purchase? Otherwise, why did he waste three years seeking some other purchaser instead of going directly to court to enforce what he considered to be a binding agreement?
Ethics Counsellor February 15th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the Deputy Prime Minister. Did officials in the office of the Prime Minister prepare a memorandum proposing the answers that might be given by the Business Development Bank in response to inquiries about the Prime Minister's intervention on the Auberge Grand-Mère loan?
If so, how could that be described as an arm's length arrangement between a crown corporation and the Government of Canada?
Business Development Bank Of Canada February 14th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, the questions keep getting asked and the answers keep being avoided. The government owes it to the people of Canada and to the Parliament of Canada to lay facts on the table about the behaviour of the Prime Minister.
Let me quote the Prime Minister's speech in 1994 in which he said “I promised Canadians we would provide an open and accountable government, and we have”.
Will the Deputy Prime Minister, in the interests of open and accountable government, table all documents relating to the transaction between the Prime Minister and the Akimbo Development Corporation respecting shares in the Grand-Mère Golf Club?