Scott Brison

[Sponsorship Program, October 26th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, once again the hon. member is commenting on day to day testimony. We are cooperating fully with Justice Gomery. We are not afraid of the results of his work. In fact, we are looking forward to having his report and moving forward.

However we are not waiting for Justice Gomery's report to in fact make differences and positive changes in the way we are operating as a government. We are making positive progress.

Our ethics and integrity package in the Department of Public Works and Government Services is in fact the best practice model by the Conference Board of Canada for both the public and private sectors. We are making a real difference, not just trying to make a point.

[Sponsorship Program, October 26th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the commission has a broad mandate to obtain all the answers it needs. We support Mr. Justice Gomery one hundred per cent. It is very important not to prejudge his work. I look forward to seeing his report.

[Sponsorship Program, October 26th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I think there is something more deep-seated in the Conservative Party's contempt for Justice Gomery's work. I think it reflects a greater contempt for the independence of the Canadian judiciary, in fact reflected by their justice critic's description of the situation when he said that there was a lot of distrust in general toward the judiciary right now and that it was leading a lot of people to be very fearful of giving powers to the judiciary.

Further, their own leader said that he agreed that serious flaws existed in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and that there was no meaningful review or accountability mechanisms for justices.

They should let Justice Gomery work and have some respect for the independence of the Canadian judiciary.

[Sponsorship Program, October 26th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, that party was wrong three times last week in question period. That was a mistake made on a day to day basis discussing the testimony before Justice Gomery.

We should wait for the truth and for Justice Gomery to table his report so that Canadians and the House of Commons will have the answers we need to move forward.

[Sponsorship Program, October 26th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I find this discussion about Serge Savard very curious because the fact is the contributions to candidates for the Liberal Party leadership were posted, transparently and openly, on the website for all Canadians to see, whereas the leadership contributions for the deputy leader of that party, when he ran for a party that no longer exists, were not posted. Furthermore, that leader did not post the contributors to his leadership campaign.

The fact is the Liberal Party is open and transparent in terms of the contributions but that party is not.

[Sponsorship Program, October 26th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, first, the Prime Minister has acted decisively in terms of the sponsorship program, ending the program and moving to establish the Gomery commission. The government is cooperating fully with Justice Gomery.

Again, I cannot understand why the hon. member, a lawyer, would not understand the importance of the independence of a judicial inquiry.

[Justice, October 22nd, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I welcome the hon. member to the House of Commons. She is part of a now very historic parliamentary couple in the House of Commons.

When I became aware of the situation, I decided to put an immediate freeze on any transactions of this nature. In fact there will be no reselling of this type of paraphernalia or equipment used in hydroponic grow operations. That will allow us to perform a review to identify some of the material. Some of the material, such as humidifiers and fans, are of a more general purpose. Others are not such. However, we are reviewing it. We have frozen the practice.

[Sponsorship Program, October 22nd, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, once again, the Conservatives were wrong this week on Francis Fox. They were wrong in terms of the Prime Minister making a phone call on this. They were wrong about the Liberals being the only party that was aware of the sponsorship program. And they were wrong about Belgium. In fact, a National Post editorial this week said:

As was the case with his now notorious “firewall letter” of 2001, the agenda he is pushing, far from having appeal in all corners of the country, is one of massive decentralization that is geared almost exclusively toward a handful of regional agitators.

Why does--

[Sponsorship Program, October 22nd, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, this is another case of the opposition focusing on day to day testimony instead of waiting for the full report, which will give Canadians the truth. It is irresponsible and it is dangerous, because on a day to day basis they are making errors over there.

Let me say that hypocrisy and sanctimony are a dangerous combination and there are near toxic levels of both emanating from the opposition benches.

[Sponsorship Program, October 22nd, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, it is not appropriate to discuss the day to day testimony at Gomery, because we run the risk of making errors based on today's testimony being contradicted by next week's testimony or in fact by poor interpretation of ambiguous testimony. That is what has happened to members of the opposition three times now this week when they made mistakes on this file.

I would urge the hon. member to not prejudge Justice Gomery's work and to wait for that report. That way we will have the full truth upon which to base our decisions on a go forward basis.