Scott Brison

[Sponsorship Program, May 30th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, once again, the government does not have to tell the Liberal Party to cooperate. The Liberal Party on its own volition is cooperating fully with the Gomery commission and has clearly stated and committed to the repayment to the Canadian taxpayer of any funds received inappropriately. The trust fund demonstrates goodwill and we cannot complete that transaction to the Canadian taxpayer until we have all the facts.

Once again, Justice Gomery has expressed that he does not have all the facts and cannot determine which of these various numbers is correct. Let Justice Gomery do his work.

[Sponsorship Program, May 30th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, furthermore, Justice Gomery had this to say. He said, “Let me give you comfort here. I have no basis for concluding that the full $1,763,000 ever found its way into the Liberal Party of Canada”. He went on to say that on quite a lot of evidence he was not able to come to any conclusion whatsoever.

Justice Gomery, a learned jurist, realizes he does not have all the facts and has not conducted all his analyses. I think Justice Gomery is probably demonstrating just a little better judgment on this than the member for Calgary--Nose Hill, who thinks she knows everything.

[Sponsorship Program, May 30th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, the government is cooperating fully. I would draw the hon. member's attention to what Justice Gomery said relative to the Kroll Lindquist report:

I think that the accountants have simply given us the raw data without expressing an opinion....Whether it was for the benefit of the Liberal Party or paid to the Liberal Party, or at the request for the Liberal Party or whatever, that is going to depend upon the other evidence that they have not tried to evaluate.

Justice Gomery realizes, as do Canadians realize, that we will not have all the facts until we have his report.

[Sponsorship Program, May 30th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, to address the hon. member's preamble, the fact is that we are cooperating with the NDP to respect the wishes of Canadians, to make this Parliament work, to invest in child care, to invest in health care, to invest in the environment, to invest in housing and to make a difference in the lives of Canadians. I am proud that we are doing this and not siding with the separatists who want to tear the country apart, as the hon. member's party is doing.

Furthermore, the fact is that our government has cooperated and will continue to cooperate fully with the Gomery commission and has in fact provided and coordinated over 20 million pages of documents to the Gomery commission because we want Justice Gomery to succeed.

[Sponsorship Program, May 30th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, there is no war room. This is an effort to cooperate fully with the Gomery commission.

The only people who are at war are the members of the Conservative Party. They are at war with Canadians who want this Parliament to work and who want to see the continuation of a functional Parliament addressing the concerns of Canadians: investments in health care, investments in child care, investments in housing, investments in the environment and investments in strengthening Canada's role in the world. The real war is between the Conservative Party and the interests of Canadians.

[Sponsorship Program, May 30th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, the government has not directed anything into that trust fund, but the Liberal Party of Canada has in fact put $750,000 into that trust fund, to answer the hon. member's question.

The fact is that the Liberal Party is cooperating fully. The establishment of this trust fund demonstrates good faith. Furthermore, the Liberal Party has been clear that any funds received inappropriately will be returned to the Canadian taxpayer once we have all the facts.

[Sponsorship Program, May 20th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, it is also important to recognize that this was the Prime Minister who fired Alfonso Gagliano. This also is the Prime Minister who established the Gomery commission and supports, unequivocally, the Gomery commission.

There are allegations against other parties, including the Conservatives, including the Bloc or the separatists in Quebec. Those parties have ignored those allegations and are not taking them seriously.

We are taking these allegations seriously. We are addressing them thoroughly. We will ensure both our government and our party does the right thing while that party simply tries to make cheap political points on the floor of the House of Commons.

[Sponsorship Program, May 20th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, once again, the government's position has been clear. We want to see Justice Gomery complete his work and reach his conclusions so that Canadians have the truth.

Yesterday's Toronto Star said that Ontarians welcomed the Prime Minster's decision to cancel the sponsorship program, to fire people linked to it and to appoint Gomery. It went on to say:

[The Prime Minister's] budget, too, was well received, even by [the Leader of the Opposition] initially. And Ontarians recoil from the Conservative-Bloc Quebecois alliance....Few beyond politics-mad Ottawa relish an election now. Many just want Parliament to get on with the job of governing, by first passing the budget.

They voted against the interests of Ontario yesterday when they voted against that budget.

[Sponsorship Program, May 20th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, the fact is that I am on the record as saying that the cost of Gomery is well worth it for the Canadian taxpayer because we are changing a culture of government. We are able to pay for generations of dividends to Canadians by getting to the truth and making fundamental changes to governance for Canadians.

I support, our Prime Minister, our entire government and our party support the work of Justice Gomery. The fact is that there is about $40 million of additional costs contributed by Public Works, Justice, the Treasury Board and the PCO to cooperate with Justice Gomery, which explains the discrepancy.

[Sponsorship Program, May 20th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, to the contrary, the party has been clear from the beginning that any funds received inappropriately will be returned to the Canadian taxpayer. Beyond that, the party has cooperated fully with Justice Gomery. We are working with Justice Gomery's auditors. We are looking forward to cooperating with him and to achieving a result that is in the interests of the Canadian taxpayer.

Again, these are serious allegations, and anybody who used the brand of the Liberal Party for financial gain inappropriately ought to face and will face the full extent of the law.