House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2011, with 57% of the vote.
Political Contributions October 6th, 1997
Mr. Speaker, if the human resources development minister was doing what the prime minister suggests by simply fulfilling his duty, why was it that the Minister of Human Resources Development felt it was incumbent upon him to report this to the minister of public works and the President of the Treasury Board immediately after bringing this to the attention of the RCMP? Why did this happen and why did he feel it was necessary to bring it to the attention of those two particular ministers?
Rcmp Investigation October 3rd, 1997
Mr. Speaker, as much as the government would like this matter to go away we have one simple point we would like to establish today.
Which ministers were travelling with which fund raisers? Who was under investigation at that time?
Rcmp Investigations October 3rd, 1997
Mr. Speaker, my question surrounds the contradictions that seem to exist. There is information that suggests that the Prime Minister did not know and then there are other suggestions that he did.
What we want to know is who in the government was aware of this illegal practice? The investigation was under way. Why did a person in the employment of the parties continue to work for the party?
Rcmp Investigations October 3rd, 1997
Mr. Speaker, the Deputy Prime Minister would have us believe that the Minister of Human Resources Development is to be congratulated for taking the initiative of calling the RCMP.
My suggestion is that this is simply not enough. Just to bring it to the attention of the RCMP is not enough.
What we would like to know is who knew, when did they know and what have they done in the meantime to ensure that this practice has stopped?
Rcmp Investigations October 2nd, 1997
Mr. Speaker, that being the fact, it is imperative Canadians have confidence in the integrity of the prime minister and the cabinet. The current RCMP investigation puts that confidence in question.
Has the clerk of the privy council been formally advised of this investigation by the RCMP? If so, what steps have been taken to maintain the integrity of the cabinet's deliberation.
Rcmp Investigations October 2nd, 1997
Mr. Speaker, is the minister aware of an individual under investigation by the RCMP, who is under his purview as solicitor general, by the name of Pierre Corbeil?
Rcmp Investigations October 2nd, 1997
Mr. Speaker, yesterday in the House the solicitor general denied any knowledge of an RCMP criminal investigation into the Liberal Party of Canada fund raising practices, despite the fact that his cabinet colleague, the Minister of Human Resources Development, brought the matter to the attention of the RCMP six months prior.
Will the solicitor general now confirm that Pierre Corbeil was a paid employee of the Liberal Party of Canada, contrary to the press release from the Liberal Party yesterday, and the duration of Mr. Corbeil's employment?
Points Of Order October 1st, 1997
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. In light of the developments of this afternoon I would like to point out to the Chair that in sitting here along with some of my colleagues I could not help but notice there was a motion which, from my vantage point, I perceived to be one of disrespect and even to be threatening toward the Chair. I am not sure if Your Honour noticed this but I did want to point that out to the Chair.
Mr. Speaker, in keeping with your efforts to maintain decorum in the House I felt it was inappropriate that this occurred.
Supply September 30th, 1997
Mr. Speaker, I listened very intently to the comments of the hon. member. As the Reform is prone to do, he has addressed in his comments specifically the financial end of his impression of the throne speech pointing out the inadequacies, making thoughtful suggestions on where improvements could be made.
My observations of Reform and the comments of its members seem to indicate that they are very regionally based and focused. In the Conservative Party six provinces are represented, including a great proportion from Atlantic Canada.
My question for the hon. member is specifically, what does the Reform have in mind. What is its approach to addressing some of the difficulties that Atlantic Canadians are facing, keeping in mind that those problems are national problems as well?
I have yet to hear anything too insightful or thoughtful on the part of the Reform on how to address the problems of Atlantic Canadians.
Speech From The Throne September 29th, 1997
Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate the solicitor general for attaining one of the highest positions that any lawyer in this country can attain.
My question is a furtherance of a question brought forward by the hon. member from Saint John. It refers to the devolution of powers of ports police to municipal police officers and potentially RCMP officers. This has happened most recently in Vancouver. There are plans to do the same in the port of Saint John as well as the port of Halifax.
How does this sit in terms of its consistency with the government's position in terms of firearms. Trying to keep illegal firearms out of this country is going to be a huge problem when we have municipal police officers trying to do the specialized job of policing ports.
How does the policy that the government is putting forward in terms of firearms sit with its decision to devolve this specialized task presently performed by ports police?