House of Commons photoLost his last election, in 2019, with 34% of the vote.
Government Contracts June 10th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, immediately upon the conclusion of the internal audit corrective measures began to be taken. Those measures were implemented throughout the course of 2001 and continued to the spring of this year. In the spring of this year my predecessor sent the internal auditors back in to verify that in fact the appropriate action had been taken, of which they were able to do in the spring of this year.
Government Contracts June 10th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, on the issue of recovery of the money, I would confirm that I commenced those proceedings this morning.
Government Contracts June 10th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, as the media have reported, this file causes me deep concern. I have asked my officials to review it very carefully. That process is ongoing and I would confirm that they have referred it to the appropriate police authorities.
Government Contracts June 10th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, the changes that were made in terms of the deletion of information that appeared on the Internet were those changes that are in fact required by the laws of this House having to do with access to information and the privacy legislation. Otherwise there was no material change. Publishing on the Internet is hardly keeping it secret.
Government Contracts June 10th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, again, it was hardly withdrawn from public debate. It was posted on the Internet. It was published in the Globe and Mail. ATIP responses have been made to the requests that have followed. I have a mandate from the Prime Minister to find out where the errors happened, to correct them, and to make sure they never happen again.
Government Contracts June 10th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, as I have indicated, as the Prime Minister has indicated and as the Deputy Prime Minister has indicated, the errors and mistakes of the past cannot be condoned. We do not condone them. We make no effort to defend the indefensible. We think mistakes were made. We are determined to correct those mistakes in future, including finding an alternate delivery mechanism that does not use external agencies.
Government Contracts June 10th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, I do not know how it could be a camouflage operation when the internal audit was posted on the Internet, when it appeared in newspapers the very next day and when every ATIP request since has been responded to.
Government Contracts June 10th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, the minister and officials at the time undertook an action plan that was intended to address the deficiencies that had been found in the internal audit. The action plan was prepared and the implementation began in the early part of 2001. Through the following 12 to 15 months the action plan was implemented. There was a further review by the internal auditor this spring to confirm that the necessary corrective action had in fact been taken.
Government Contracts June 10th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, since the internal audit was posted on the Internet on October 11, 2000 it is hardly a cover-up. The matter in fact was public in the Globe and Mail on page 3 the very next day, Thursday, October 12. This was obviously not a covert operation.
Government Contracts June 10th, 2002
Mr. Speaker, let me be very clear about the action that was taken last week.
Where my department is the contracting agent on behalf of either itself or any other department or agency of government, new advertising business to Groupaction will not be entertained. Whenever there is business caught in process by this decision, it will be reviewed on a case by case basis. My department is contacting every other agency of the Government of Canada to draw this position to their attention.