House of Commons photoLost his last election, in 2011, with 35% of the vote.
Sponsorship Program November 4th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, when he was questioned previously on such contracts awarded to personal friends, the Prime Minister maintained that the contracts in question were the result of a clear and transparent award process.
Will the Prime Minister admit that what is clear is that he intervened in connection with advertising contracts, and what is transparent is that we can see now that he interfered in favour of Earnscliffe, a firm very close to him?
Sponsorship Program November 4th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the 1994 letter from the executive assistant of the then Minister of Finance, Terrie O'Leary, and the success, in 1995, of Ekos and others in securing contracts show how efficient the current Prime Minister and his executive assistant were in ensuring preferential treatment for his pals.
How can the Prime Minister maintain that he knew nothing, when his executive assistant wrote letters on his behalf to secure contracts for personal friends, and this approach was successful?
Sponsorship Program November 3rd, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Public Works and Government Services can try to defend his boss by saying the commission's work is not done. But one fact remains; the evidence against the Prime Minister is growing more and more serious. In fact, no one believes the Prime Minister when he says he knew nothing about the sponsorship scandal.
Does he not now realize that serious suspicion has grown up around him and that it is his duty to explain himself to the public, right here in Parliament?
Sponsorship Program November 3rd, 2004
Mr. Speaker, at the Gomery commission we have learned that a contract awarded to a communications firm was split in two at the request of the finance department, and one part given to a firm with very close ties to the current Prime Minister.
When the Prime Minister confirmed, last winter, that there had been political direction behind the sponsorship scandal, was he thinking of his own interventions on behalf of his own friends?
Criminal Code November 2nd, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the members of the Bloc Québécois will vote in favour of this motion. We could apply this vote to Bill C-17 because the result is exactly the same.
Sponsorship Program October 28th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the amount of the contract Claude Boulay secured through the Prime Minister was increased from $50,000 to $65,000. Normally, this amount should have been paid by Public Works, on behalf of the Federal Office of Regional Development for Quebec; instead, it was paid out of the national unity fund.
How could the Prime Minister say that Jean Chrétien was keeping him away from his national unity strategy, when he freely used the fund for his own department, since he was the minister responsible for the Federal Office of Regional Development? He did not agree with the fund, but he dipped into it.
Sponsorship Program October 28th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, for someone who knew nothing of the sponsorship program, the Prime Minister was pretty efficient and active, following up on a letter from his good friend Claude Boulay, who was offering the services of his advertising firm.
How can the Prime Minister claim not to know anything when his letter to his “Dear Claude” resulted directly in a $65,000 contract for Groupe Everest?
Sponsorship Program October 27th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, we are not talking about testimony at the Gomery commission, but a letter that appeared in the papers. Remember, it was this same Prime Minister who said he was outraged by the whole sponsorship scandal.
If the Prime Minister still feels the same way, if he is still outraged, the first thing he should do is tell us everything he knows frankly and directly. I am asking him to table, here in this House, the letter to his “dear Claude”. Will he agree that his refusal to table it would suggest he has something to hide?
Sponsorship Program October 27th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, today the papers are publishing only excerpts of a letter from the Prime Minister to Claude Boulay, president of Groupe Everest, which starts by “Dear Claude” and ends with the Prime Minister's usual salutations.
Can the Prime Minister disclose the entire content of the message between the recipient's name “Dear Claude” and the signature “Paul”? That is what we are interested in.
Sponsorship Program October 26th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the minister was reading from the wrong page of his briefing book. The logo is nowhere to be found, but we have found contracts for its design, and the buddies of the Liberal Party of Canada were indeed paid for it. The contracts in question went to: BCP, a Liberal Party contributor of $123,000 between 1996 and 2003, Everest: a contributor of $174,000, Compass: $6,000, Vickers & Benson: $102,000 and Palmer Jarvis, a contributor of $125,000 to the Liberal Party of Canada.