Stephen Harper

[Government Contracts, May 11th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday's charges finally came two years after the Auditor General's report on Groupaction. There are other police investigations outstanding, on sponsorship, on DND, on HRDC, on the Liberal Party of Canada's Quebec wing. I could go on and on. There are in fact at least 36 separate police investigations we are aware of into the conduct of this government. It is unprecedented in our history.

Are these charges not just the tip of the iceberg into the culture of corruption that has been the hallmark of the government for over a decade?

[Health, May 7th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, the House will note that the Deputy Prime Minister did not answer my question because the clinic does accept payment for private health services and services privately delivered.

The hypocrisy is this: How does the Prime Minister justify going to a clinic he claims his government does not support?

[Health, May 7th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I want to go back to the Prime Minister's hypocrisy in his use of private health care.

Let me be very clear. Will the Deputy Prime Minister admit that the Prime Minister goes to a clinic that accepts not only patients covered by public health insurance, but also accepts private payment for health services, yes or no?

[Health, May 7th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, according to reports today, this is all paid for by a private executive insurance arrangement. The hypocrisy of those guys is absolutely breathtaking; they want to run a smear campaign against me on health care. Is the truth of the matter not this? The difference between us and them on health care is that when Paul Martin pays for health care it is with a chequebook, and when I--

[Health, May 7th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, according to reports today, the Prime Minister--

[Health, May 7th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, let us talk about where the Prime Minister is actually going. Not only has he allowed the expansion of private health care and chequebook medicine in Canada, we find out today that he actually uses it.

We have a health minister who says he supports private delivery one day and denies it the next. We have a Prime Minister who denounces the practice of chequebook medicine and it turns out that he is actually practising it himself, queue-jumping at private clinics.

I have a simple question: How is the government ever going to explain its hypocrisy on health care?

[Health, May 7th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, no one knows where this Prime Minister stands on health care. He has been running away, has failed to implement a five year health accord that was signed with the provinces, and now he is talking only about a 10 year health plan that nobody has seen and nobody has agreed to.

Will the Prime Minister tell us before an election what, if anything, is actually in his hidden, secret health care plan?

[Veterans Affairs, May 6th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, I am going to continue to press the Prime Minister for a very clear commitment.

With the half a million dollars that he spent on all his various pre-election trips on the Challengers, we could have sent 60 additional veterans to Normandy. This is not a matter of money. It is a matter of priorities. This is not supposed to be a photo op for politicians. It is supposed to be to honour what the veterans achieved.

Will the Prime Minister do the right thing and commit the government to paying for any veteran who is willing and able to attend the ceremonies?

[Veterans Affairs, May 6th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, time is running out. Let me impress upon the Prime Minister what one D-Day veteran, Bruce Melanson, had to say:

What we got today and this scandal of monies being thrown around...why don't they throw a little bit at us, at the veterans?

This ceremony is to celebrate history but in this case we have living history. Does the Prime Minister not agree that sending our veterans to Normandy is a small price to pay for the service they have given this country?

[Veterans Affairs, May 6th, 2004]

Mr. Speaker, many D-Day veterans are upset that they will not be able to attend the celebrations in Normandy. Only 60 veterans are being taken by the government, yet the government has the money to take over 70 government support staff.

I wonder if the Prime Minister would reconsider and take all the veterans who want to go to Normandy.