House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2011, with 57% of the vote.
Canada Steamship Lines February 6th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, Technology Partnerships Canada, an agency with Industry Canada, has a very stringent grant process application. Clause 13 of that process states that no member of Parliament is to benefit from TPC grants.
In June 2003 the Prime Minister's company, Canada Shipbuilding and Engineering, received a $4.9 million TPC taxpayer investment.
Could the industry minister tell us why clause 13 was removed from the Prime Minister's TPC agreement to his benefit?
Canada Steamship Lines February 5th, 2004
It may be politics, Mr. Speaker, but the House leader should know that it is his job to provide accurate information to the opposition and Canadians.
The Prime Minister surely wants to avoid being put in the same category as Italian leader Silvio Burlusconi whose business dealings have damaged his reputation.
In the interest of openness, transparency and trust, will the Prime Minister agree that the Auditor General's investigation into the financial dealings include the examination of his business connections to the former Indonesian dictator Suharto's family?
Canada Steamship Lines February 5th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's dealings with CSL are becoming well documented. In 1996 he met with the ethics counsellor and the president of CSL to discuss a lucrative deal with an Indonesian power company, Jawa Power. CSL has refused to say just how lucrative that contract was.
When will the Prime Minister provide Canadians with all the information about his share of the CSL take and give Canadians their share of the tax?
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy February 4th, 2004
Mr. Chair, I congratulate the member and all members present who have partaken in this debate. It is a very timely one. Many Canadians were left with the impression that much of the concern and much of the terrible fallout and effects of the BSE crisis were just starting to wane when of course another animal was identified and linked to Canada. So I am very pleased to see that the Parliament of Canada has brought this forward in the first week of our return.
My question for the hon. member opposite is with respect to a North American approach. He referenced the restaurants and hotels, and my colleague from St. John's West referenced this as well. This is an approach that obviously is going to have to follow the protocols, the science, the efforts made now to an integrated approach that will allow for the early prevention and identification of BSE. Ensuring that consumer confidence is restored is another aspect that I know the minister himself has concerned himself with.
To the hon. member opposite, does he believe that part of the grand scheme, the strategy that has to follow here, is going to involve a great deal of cooperation with the United States and Mexico to ensure that there is a North American approach taken to this situation?
Fisheries February 4th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Given the importance of the matter and given the fact that we have the parliamentary secretary here, perhaps we could ask for unanimous consent that he be allowed to take five minutes of questions and comments.
Canada Steamship Lines February 4th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, we have a blind trust with a lot of peripheral vision in this case. Calling for the Auditor General to now give her input is simply another attempt by the Prime Minister to divert attention away from the truth.
The Prime Minister failed to close loopholes that sheltered his shipping empire. The Prime Minister placed most of his CSL shipping assets offshore to avoid Canadian taxes.
Is the Prime Minister telling Canadians now to just trust him and that in fact he did not have financial relations with that company?
Canada Steamship Lines February 4th, 2004
That is more feigned indignation, Mr. Speaker. If the Prime Minister has been telling Canadians for 15 years that he was not involved in the running of his own steamship company, why did he later admit he had 12 meetings with the ethics counsellor? That number later rose to 33 meetings. It was one more administrative error, I suggest.
The Prime Minister asserts that he is not involved with running his business, yet he seemed to know last week that the figure of $137,000 was incorrect. He knew that immediately.
If he were adhering to the blind trust rules, how did he know?
Canada Steamship Lines February 3rd, 2004
Mr. Speaker, what could be more fundamental to the cause of open transparency than a complete disclosure of all of the moneys received by CSL and subsidiary companies? What could be more fundamental than coming clean to Canadians through the chamber today?
The question, I repeat, is the figure of $161 million received by CSL and its subsidiaries the full and accurate disclosure of moneys received from the government to CSL?
Canada Steamship Lines February 3rd, 2004
Mr. Speaker, after all of those hours and research, evidence that is turned over to the opposition that is repeated in the House of Commons, in a court of law they call that perjury when it is not correct.
The Prime Minister has talked endlessly about--
Canada Steamship Lines February 3rd, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the CSL scandal is rife with duplicity and deceit right from the get-go. After originally stating that the Prime Minister spoke to the ethics counsellor a few times, it turns out that he had over 33 conversations.
How does the Prime Minister expect Canadians to believe that he did not know how much money he received from his own government, how much money went from coffers that he controlled into companies that he owned? How does the Prime Minister expect Canadians to accept his word on this important issue?