Ralph Goodale

[Government Contracts, June 17th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the President of the Treasury Board ensures that every department of government has an appropriately strong internal audit function. My department has that function. The auditor general has said that those people who perform that function within Public Works Canada are in fact excellent and courageous. It was these people who discovered this bad business practice and as a result of their recommendations the business practice was corrected. Therefore the requirements of the treasury board were ultimately adhered to.

[Government Contracts, June 17th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the treasury board requires all departments to have internal audit sections. The internal auditors within public works are regarded, by no less authority than the Auditor General of Canada, as a very excellent internal audit section. They are the ones who discovered this bad business practice with respect to the interest. They are the ones who recommended the corrections and I am pleased to say that the corrections were made a year ago.

[Government Contracts, June 17th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I did not hear the last part of the hon. gentleman's question but I would point out that the problem with respect to the interest collected on certain accounts was identified in the internal audit that was conducted by that section of my department.

The auditors recommended certain specific actions that needed to be taken to correct that, including the establishment of separate accounts, and a holding period of not more than five days. About a year ago now, June of last year, those corrections were in fact made.

[Government Contracts, June 17th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I have nothing on the record before me at the moment that would indicate the contrary. What this would appear to be with respect to the interest charges is a bad business practice that was identified in the audit that was conducted internally by my department. Recommendations were made for correcting that business practice and the correction was in fact made about a year ago.

[Government Contracts, June 17th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the hon. gentleman's concern about these matters. I share that concern. Accordingly, a number of steps have been taken to make sure the whole matter is thoroughly ventilated. Action is being taken by my department with a departmental review. The treasury board is examining the governance system. The auditor general will conduct a government wide audit with respect to advertising and sponsorships. References to the police are made when the circumstances are appropriate for that. We are determining the way to totally revamp the program for the future to avoid the use of commission agents in future programs.

We are trying to deal with this in the right way on all fronts.

[Government Contracts, June 17th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, the possibility of some difficulty with this file was drawn to my attention two or three weeks ago. Since that time I have been making the appropriate inquiries to determine exactly what transpired in this case.

Obviously I would be very interested to know the requirements of the Department of Justice and whether or not there was in fact any communication. The Department of Justice says no.

[Government Contracts, June 17th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, this particular file actually predates the sponsorship program which began in 1997. It dates from 1996. I have been examining it along with several hundred others in the process of the departmental review that we are undertaking.

As is the case with all the other files, if I discover anything suspicious or untoward in my examination, the proper authorities will be called in to investigate.

[Government Contracts, June 14th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, all appropriate studies and inquiries are underway, both internally and externally, by my department, by treasury board, by the auditor general, by the police where appropriate and even by the public accounts committee of the House.

Canadians can be assured that this matter will be thoroughly ventilated.

[Government Contracts, June 14th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, obviously in connection with the sponsorship program some very serious mistakes were made. The government started the process of identifying those mistakes in the year 2000 with an internal audit that was ordered by the deputy minister of public works.

Ever since that time corrective action has been taken to further identify the problems and to make sure they do not happen again.

My mandate is to make sure the issues are resolved and that the program functions on a proper basis that respects the public trust.

[Government Contracts, June 14th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, again I would say that my predecessor took steps to begin addressing this issue of joint ownership among companies.

The real solution for the future lies in what I have said to the House on many occasions, beginning on, I think, the very first day I was in this portfolio, which is that we need to develop a delivery mechanism for the sponsorship program that does not use outside agencies.