Scott Brison

[Sponsorship Program, October 28th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, once again the Prime Minister and the government have nothing to hide. The Prime Minister had the courage to set up the Gomery commission, to give it the resources it required to do its job and to provide to Justice Gomery all the information required, which was over 10 million pages of documents, including cabinet documents.

The Prime Minister has said consistently that he has no difficulty in appearing before Justice Gomery. I would urge patience and a bit of wisdom on the opposition benches on this issue so we can actually get to the truth on this, and allow Justice Gomery to do his work.

[Sponsorship Program, October 28th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, again the Alliance Conservatives continue to make mistakes when they comment on day to day testimony. In fact they have made four mistakes that we are aware of so far by commenting on day to day testimony. We have seen that today's testimony can be contradicted by another day's testimony. In fact that has been the case.

I would like to suggest that independent judicial inquiries should come with warning labels. This would be a good suggestion for the Leader of the Opposition. Those warning labels would say “Selective use of testimony can be damaging to one's credibility”.

[Sponsorship Program, October 27th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, if the Prime Minister had anything to hide, he would not have set up the Justice Gomery inquiry. He would not have said from the beginning that he was willing to testify in front of Justice Gomery and provide the facts. He would not have instructed his government to cooperate fully with Justice Gomery and in fact provide over 10 million pages of documents, including cabinet documents.

We are cooperating because the Prime Minister is not afraid of the truth and our government is not afraid of the truth.

[Sponsorship Program, October 27th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, again, I will not comment on day to day testimony because that would be a mistake from the perspective of respecting judicial independence. Beyond that, the risk is making errors such as the ones the hon. member makes.

I sometimes write letters to other members of Parliament, in fact to members opposite and to other parties. Sometimes I will scratch out the Mr. or the Ms. and write their name but that does not mean I am their friend. That is a common courtesy between civil people and common discourse on an ongoing basis.

[Sponsorship Program, October 27th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, it is not the government that is making those comments and those mistakes on a day to day basis. It is that party.

I believe that is indicative of the contempt that party has for judicial independence, the type of contempt that was illustrated fully during the election when the member from Abbotsford said, “Well, to heck with the courts, eh. The courts interpret the law and if we don't like that interpretation there's the notwithstanding clause”. Further, he said, “Judges are appointed individuals, not elected, not responsible to anybody but themselves”.

I would ask them to respect Justice Gomery and to respect--

[Sponsorship Program, October 27th, 2004]

Once again, Mr. Speaker, I have enumerated in this House the three errors that the party opposite has made on this issue by commenting on day to day testimony last week.

Once again, they are making allegations that are false. We should allow Justice Gomery to do his work, not only to get to the truth but to avoid the opposition from losing any more credibility by commenting on day to day testimony and making grievous errors.

[Sponsorship Program, October 27th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians chose this minority Parliament and they want us to make it work. They want us to focus on their priorities: on health care, child care, equalization and environmental issues.

I would urge the hon. member opposite, in fact all members of the House, to focus on those priorities and to let Justice Gomery do his work.

[Sponsorship Program, October 27th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has acted decisively. He ended the sponsorship program. There is the Gomery commission. We are cooperating with it fully. We are providing over 10 million pages of documents, including cabinet documents.

The Prime Minister has said all along that he has no difficulty with appearing before Justice Gomery and participating in the inquiry. We are not afraid of getting to the bottom of this. We want truth in government, which is what Canadians want. I expect that is what the hon. member wants, which is why he ought to support the work of Justice Gomery.

[Sponsorship Program, October 27th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, let us talk about the facts.

The only reason that hon. member can comment on day to day testimony in front of Gomery is the fact that there is a Gomery commission. The only reason we have a Gomery commission is that the Prime Minister acted swiftly and decisively to establish the Gomery commission. He is not afraid and the government is not afraid of the results from that commission, which is why we are allowing Justice Gomery to do his work and not interfering on a day to day basis. We would urge similar courage on that side of the House.

[Sponsorship Program, October 27th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, again, I will not comment on day to day testimony before Justice Gomery because I do not want to make the same kinds of errors the opposition seems intent on doing on almost a day by day basis.

However, I will comment when the opposition makes allegations that are clearly false, and this is one of those cases. The contract in question was selected through a process in which the Prime Minister did not intervene.