Ralph Goodale

[Government Contracts, June 6th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, with respect to the photocopying issue that the hon. gentleman refers to, that of course is already the subject of a police inquiry. As a result of that, the former minister of public works and government services already took the step of terminating sponsorship activity with respect to Groupaction.

With respect to other business, as I mentioned earlier in the House today I am pursuing additional initiatives to deal with that, as I promised to do.

[Government Contracts, June 6th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, this entire area is being thoroughly examined, obviously on a daily basis here in the House of Commons, also by a committee of the House, by officials at treasury board, by officials in my department as well as by the auditor general and by police authorities where that is required.

[Government Contracts, June 6th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I already indicated to the House on several occasions that I am actively looking at the possibility of eliminating the agency relationships altogether and proceeding in future years on the basis of direct government administration.

In the course of this year, which as the hon. gentleman knows is part way through, I am examining those files that might in fact be able to proceed in the short term without benefit of agency participation.

[Government Contracts, June 6th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, what the hon. gentleman appears to be alleging would sound to me like a criminal offence. As the House knows, any matter of that kind would in fact be referred to the police for the appropriate investigation and, if necessary, prosecution.

If the hon. gentleman has information that might be evidence of any kind of offence, I hope he will draw it to the attention of the RCMP.

[Government Contracts, June 6th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, with respect to applications in process under the sponsorship program for the current year, as colleagues in the House will know that is subject to the freeze that I announced a week ago Monday.

I am in the process of examining all the applications that have come in. I have asked my officials to identify those cases in which the projects might well be able to proceed without the benefit of external agencies.

[Government Contracts, June 6th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, there has been no change in position. What I said to the Leader of the Opposition a week ago Monday was that I had the issue of advertising questions under review and that I would report to him and to the House as soon as I had an opportunity to finalize my conclusions.

That work is ongoing, but I have been able to take some conclusions in the meantime. Those conclusions have indeed been reported to the House as promised.

[Government Contracts, June 6th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I obviously do not accept the preamble to the question. When I say that I expect my department to perform in a certain way, I fully expect it will comply with the minister's wishes.

[Government Contracts, June 6th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, again, just to be clear, the sponsorship part of it has already been dealt with, as the hon. gentleman agrees. With respect to other marketing and communications activities of whatever kind beyond and apart from sponsorships, I would expect my department to decline any new contract awards to Groupaction.

I would say that there are obviously items that at the moment are business in progress. I will need to review those very carefully.

[Government Contracts, June 6th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, I indicated all through last week that all these matters were under careful review. As the House knows, there are a variety of inquiries and investigations underway. Last week I indicated, for example, that I was applying a moratorium with respect to further activity under the sponsorship program until I had a chance to review the criteria.

At that time the hon. gentleman raised the issue of advertising, I indicated that I would consider that issue and that I would report back to the House, which I have done.

[Government Contracts, June 6th, 2002]

Mr. Speaker, with respect to the sponsorship program of Communication Canada, all new activity with Groupaction was in fact suspended by my predecessor back in March of this year.

With respect to any other marketing or communications business of any kind whatsoever, beyond and apart from sponsorship, I would certainly expect my department to decline new contract awards with Groupaction. We obviously will need to look very closely at the question of business in process, but I will be examining that with a great deal of care.