Paul Martin

[Auditor General's Report, February 10th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I have already said both inside and outside the House that the situation described by the Auditor General is unacceptable. It is intolerable. I believe very strongly that Canadians deserve much better, and this government intends to provide them with that.

What is not going to help this debate nor the search for solutions is the kind of verbal abuse we are now hearing from the opposition, the kinds of things that were said about the current Minister of Industry who I am prepared to stand up in the House and defend anytime. She was a tremendous president of the Treasury Board.

[Auditor General's Report, February 10th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, casting aspersions on someone's integrity in the House as a result of an inability to deal with the issue is no answer at all.

The problem the member of Parliament ought to recognize is that, first of all, the former minister of public works dealt with this as soon as the government understood the nature of the issue. Second, as soon as we formed the government, we cancelled the program. And today, as soon as the report was tabled, we came up with a comprehensive plan to deal with it. We have dealt with it, and we dealt with it as soon as we were able to.

[Auditor General's Report, February 10th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, this is a matter of great disappointment for everyone on this side of the House and over there. This is a matter of great disappointment to those who served in the government. It is our intention now to get to the root of it. It is not our intention to cast aspersions on people without facts. We are going to deal with the facts. That is why we have asked for a royal commission.

On top of that, under the aegis of his fellow Winnipeger, we are going to ensure it never happens again. I hope the hon. member will cooperate with the government as we put in place the structures to ensure that this never happens again.

[Auditor General's Report, February 10th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the way the rules of government work is, the rules are established. Money is allocated. One assumes that the rules are being followed. As soon as we discovered that the rules were not being followed, the current Minister of Finance, the former minister of public works, immediately took action. Then on the 12th of December, we cancelled the program, and today, with the report being tabled, we have come out with the most far-reaching program to find out what has happened and to find out what we must do in the future to ensure that it never happens again.

[Auditor General's Report, February 10th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the goal of the commission is to get to the bottom of things, to ask all the questions that should be asked, and to find all the answers.

Nevertheless, at the same time, there is the public accounts committee. Is the Bloc Quebecois going to participate? Is it going to cooperate? Does the Bloc intend to shoulder its own responsibilities during meetings of the parliamentary committee?

[Auditor General's Report, February 10th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member opposite is having a little trouble understanding how things work. This is a judicial commission. There is one judge, who has just been appointed: Justice John Gomery of the Quebec Superior Court. He is the commission.

[Auditor General's Report, February 10th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the judge heading the commission was appointed today. We want to see the inquiry start as soon as possible. We do not want any delays. This commission will, once it starts its inquiry, carry it to completion, with no interruption.

[Auditor General's Report, February 10th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the commission will have all of the powers allocated to it under the legislation governing public inquiries. Justice John Gomery of the Quebec Superior Court has been appointed. I do not think we ought to start attacking the integrity of the courts or that of a judge. It is very clear; this is a commission of inquiry for the purpose of proving the facts beyond any doubt.

[Auditor General's Report, February 10th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, the Minister of Finance does not sign cheques. The member should get it straight.

More important, the President of the Treasury Board is putting in place a comprehensive plan to ensure that this kind of thing can never happen again. He will be speaking about it either in the House today or later on.

I look to the opposition members and ask them to cooperate with the government to put in place the kinds of measures so Canadians will know that in fact their money deserves the respect that we believe it does.

[Auditor General's Report, February 10th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the problem described by the Auditor General is that the rules were broken. People did not know that rules were broken, but when the government became aware of that, let me simply point out and let me congratulate the current Minister of Finance, the former minister of public works, who on becoming the minister of public works took immediate action and is rewarded for it in very favourable comments in the Auditor General's report.