House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2015, with 64% of the vote.
Sponsorship Program May 5th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, not only is that untrue, it is so typical. This Prime Minister blames the bureaucrats, he blames former politicians, he blames the heads of crown corporations and he blames the chairman and the opposition members of the public accounts committee.
Will the Prime Minister admit that if he wanted the job, should he not take accountability for it?
Sponsorship Program May 5th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the Conservative Party can say, without hesitation, that there is a fiscal imbalance, and we are going to correct it.
On another subject, the Prime Minister said that no stone would be left unturned in getting to the truth of the sponsorship scandal. Yesterday, he even claimed that he wanted to hear from all the witnesses before the public accounts committee.
Will the Prime Minister guarantee that the committee will hear all 72 of the witnesses that it wants to hear from?
Taxation May 5th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, in a letter to the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Prime Minister does not admit that there is a fiscal imbalance. Instead, he invites the provinces to increase taxes even further so that they can fulfil their responsibilities in areas such as health. This is the same Prime Minister who had enough money for the sponsorship scandal, the HRDC boondoggle and the gun registry fiasco.
Yes or no, does the Prime Minister admit that there is a fiscal imbalance between the federal government and the provinces?
Sponsorship Program May 4th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, I think that study cost $13 million.
The Liberals are trying to discredit the Auditor General, to interrupt the work of the committee, and to tell their candidates it is nothing more than bad management. Initially, the Prime Minister pretended to be scandalized. The people of Canada continue to be scandalized.
Will the Prime Minister tell us the whole truth on the sponsorship scandal before calling an election?
Sponsorship Program May 4th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the $13 million man already questioned her credibility on television.
The Auditor General stands behind her report that every rule in the book was broken. She said that the entire quarter of a billion dollar program was suspect. Liberal members still want to cover it up. The judicial inquiry has not begun, but Liberal MPs want to shut down the public accounts committee with 72 witnesses left to be heard and no answers.
Why is the Prime Minister instructing his members to shut down the investigation by the public accounts committee?
Sponsorship Program May 4th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, I see the government is planning a dirty advertising program, but we are still trying to clean up the dirt from the last advertising program.
Liberal members are trying to sweep the sponsorship scandal under the rug by discrediting the Auditor General, accusing her of misleading Canadians, jumping to conclusions and even self-aggrandizement. As one newspaper said today, the Auditor General's “strength in the face of these cowardly attacks remind us all of our duty as citizens and voters: the duty to speak out when something is not right; the duty to demand real answers instead of political excuses and spin”.
Is it still the government's position to attack the credibility and integrity of the Auditor General?
Health May 3rd, 2004
Mr. Speaker, as a private citizen in the past few years, I paid a lot of my own health care bills and that is the case today with a lot of Canadians, if the Minister of Health does not already know it.
The Minister of Health also said, “If some provinces want to experiment with the private delivery option, my view is that as long as they respect the single-payer, public payer, we should be examining these efforts”.
Does the Minister of Health continue to believe that the provinces will need to have this flexibility? Yes or no?
Health May 3rd, 2004
Mr. Speaker, I asked the government a reasonably simple question and it should have been able to give a simple answer. I will ask the Minister of Health directly. The Minister of Health said, “The Canada Health Act already provides flexibility on private delivery”. Does the Canada Health Act already provide flexibility on private delivery?
Health May 3rd, 2004
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health made a number of statements on health care over the past couple of weeks. On Thursday, he appeared to backtrack on those statements in a public statement, but he never said what his position actually was. One of his lines was the following, “The Canada Health Act does not preclude delivery of services by private delivery”.
My question for the government is simple. Does the Canada Health Act provide flexibility on private delivery?
Health April 28th, 2004
Mr. Speaker, we just had a 10 year plan to fix health care, called the Liberal government, and it did not work out. The Prime Minister said he agreed to fund the commitments made by Mr. Chrétien only after he hedged all through the prebudget discussions over the spring. Then he finally conceded it, but he said in his budget there was no new additional money for health care.
Now he is going around promising the provinces there will be more money. There was not in the budget. Now there is. How can the Prime Minister promise new money for this summer's health care discussions when his own budget said there was no--