Scott Brison

[Sponsorship Program, April 22nd, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, how can the Conservatives expect Canadians to believe a party whose communications director compares the Prime Minister of Canada to a terrorist and murderer, Osama bin Laden? How can they expect Canadians to believe them when their leader says that the Prime Minister of Canada supports child pornography?

If their leader had one-tenth of the integrity of our Prime Minister, he would stand in the House and apologize to Canadians, and apologize to the Prime Minister.

[Sponsorship Program, April 22nd, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Corbeil did meet with the Prime Minister at that meeting. He indicated to the then finance minister that he would not be supporting him during the leadership race of 2003. Frankly, given what Mr. Corbeil has indicated he has been involved in, we are very pleased with that decision because the Prime Minister of Canada plays politics very differently than the way Mr. Corbeil plays politics.

[Sponsorship Program, April 22nd, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, Ms. Deslauriers said that the campaign organization felt like a big family. That is a big difference from what the member is inferring. Mr. Boulay said in fact that he never met with the Prime Minister one on one, only at political functions. That is entirely true.

The opposition members are once again misrepresenting daily testimony. They are taking selectively from testimony to support their own narrow partisan argument. That is the true dishonesty. Our Prime Minister is interested in the truth and he stands with Canadians to support Justice Gomery.

[Sponsorship Program, April 22nd, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is a very successful politician. The fact is the Prime Minister has been involved in a number of very successful campaigns. Part of successful campaigns is having a large number of good organizers involved in them.

They are trying to make a mountain out of a molehill. They spent most of the week talking about birthday greetings from a Prime Minister who sends out 50,000 of them a year.

It is important to remember what the member for Prince George--Peace River said last year, “If we took action to remove a person every time someone is accused of something, there wouldn't be many politicians in this country”. He was defending a colleague at that time.

[Sponsorship Program, April 22nd, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, the fact is that what Madame Deslauriers said is that 12 years ago she hosted a brunch, a thank you brunch for campaign volunteers after the election.

The fact is that the Prime Minister has said in his testimony that he met Mr. Boulay occasionally as part of groups at political functions. That is entirely consistent because that was a political function. The Prime Minister is being completely honest, unlike that party which compared the Prime Minister of Canada to a mass murderer and a terrorist.

[Liberal Party of Canada, April 21st, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, it is our Prime Minister who ended the sponsorship program, who established Justice Gomery's work and who supports Justice Gomery. The Liberal Party is cooperating fully with Justice Gomery. In fact, our auditors are working closely with Justice Gomery's office.

We look forward to that report because tens of thousands of Liberal activists across Canada want to get to the bottom of this because we are defending, not just the reputation of Liberals but the reputation of federalists in Quebec. We are also defending the Canadian taxpayer by getting to the bottom of this issue.

That is what we are doing, getting to the bottom of this issue, not scoring cheap political points.

[Sponsorship Program, April 21st, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, our Prime Minister has been steadfast in his commitment to get to the truth for Canadians. Our Prime Minister has not covered up anything. Our Prime Minister has opened up this issue and is determined to get to the truth for Canadians.

He has put country before party. He has put principle before partisan strategy. That is exactly the opposite of what the members opposite are doing. Our Prime Minister is standing up for Canadians. He wants to get to the truth. They just want to get to the polls.

[Sponsorship Program, April 21st, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, these are allegations, not facts. To get the facts, we must wait for the Gomery commission to table its report.

The only way we will be able to have the truth for Canadians is if we actually respect the independence of the judicial inquiry and wait to have the Gomery report. Justice Gomery is able to analyze all the testimony, much of which is contradictory, and he will ensure that Canadians have the truth they deserve.

The reason there is a Justice Gomery doing his work, getting to the truth, is because we have a Prime Minister who is absolutely committed to getting the truth for Canadians.

[Sponsorship Program, April 21st, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, once again members are selectively using testimony. We have had testimony recently from Mr. Boulay that said, “We have never had one on one meetings. We ran into each other at different activities”. Mr. Boulay even doubted that the Prime Minister wrote the infamous birthday letter which the hon. members opposite cited as evidence of some close personal relationship.

We are seeing on an ongoing basis contradictory allegations. The hon. members opposite point out those allegations that support their accusations. Canadians do not want this kind of partisanship. They want the truth. They want Justice Gomery's report.

[Sponsorship Program, April 21st, 2005]

He could benefit from the answer, Mr. Speaker. The fact is some testimony has contradicted other testimony. The hon. member makes an excellent point, that we ought to all wait until we have Justice Gomery's report which will, through his analysis, give Canadians a good analysis of all the testimony so Canadians can be secure in having the truth.

I agree with the hon. member. We really should wait for Justice Gomery's report.