House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2008, with 58% of the vote.
Ethics Counsellor March 21st, 2001
Mr. Speaker, we still cannot get an answer and the Prime Minister will not stand up and give an answer. Why can we not get the information? He said that the shares were in a blind trust and yet he phoned the ethics trainer in 1996 to say that the sale of the shares had not gone through.
We have been asking the same question. We just want a simple answer. Whose names were on that registry between 1996 and 1999? Answer the question.
Ethics Counsellor March 21st, 2001
Mr. Speaker, he is upset because he must still carry the Prime Minister's baggage on this, and that will hurt his leadership challenge. He has a leadership race to face and he is carrying some weight on his back.
In his public statement on his assets that were to be reported, the Prime Minister wrote that his portfolio, and I quote:
—is managed by a third party, at arm's length and in a blind trust.
If the Prime Minister had no control over his shares, why did he call his ethics counsellor in January?
Ethics Counsellor March 21st, 2001
Mr. Speaker, to use his own phraseology, I do not want the Minister of Industry to get his shorts and his socks in a knot. I am just asking a basic question.
We never asked that these names be released by the company. We asked that the ethics trainer for the Prime Minister release from the corporate registry the names of the shareholders. We still do not have them. Whose names were on there between 1996 and 1999? That is all we are asking.
Ethics Counsellor March 21st, 2001
Mr. Speaker, yesterday a letter was released from the Grand-Mère Golf Club's lawyers by the Prime Minister's personal ethics trainer.
The Liberals claim that the letter, which of course was written and paid for by the Prime Minister's former business partners, clears him. Actually it proves nothing. The only way we will get to the bottom of this Grand-Mère affair is if all of the relevant documents are released.
Why is the Minister of Industry still refusing to release the names that appear on the shareholder registry that shows who was the fourth shareholder between 1996 and 1999? Why will he not just release it?
The Economy March 20th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, I will quote the Prime Minister's own words. There was a question to the Prime Minister when he was in opposition about the fact that the dollar was too strong and he did not like that. He said again that he wanted the dollar to flow downward. He then said 12 years later that it was time to accept a weaker dollar.
For the past 15 years, the Prime Minister has been an avowed supporter of a weak Canadian dollar. The Minister of Finance, however, claims that this is an irresponsible position.
Can the Prime Minister tell this House whether it is his own statements that are irresponsible or whether...
The Economy March 20th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister clings frantically and stubbornly to his policy of maintaining a weak Canadian dollar, the savings of Canadians continue to erode. Mr. Jeff Rubin of CIBC World Markets has said:
If we continue to have our heads in the sand about this, we are going to wake up one day and we are going to see a 60 cent Canadian dollar.
He went on to say:
I think that day could well come before the end of the year.
When will the Prime Minister get his head out of the sand and take action to improve the position of the dollar and abandon his policy of a weak dollar? When will the Prime Minister abandon his policy of a weak dollar?
The Economy March 20th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, Alan Greenspan has just cut the United States federal reserve rate by 50 basis points. The Canadian dollar is weakening and the C.D. Howe Institute has stated:
Inflation has been creeping up and is now pushing on the upper limits of its target range, which of course will limit the bank's ability to match the federal reserve's rate cuts.
Could the government tell us how it intends to provide further stimulus to the Canadian economy without further jeopardizing our dollar and without risking inflation?
Supply March 20th, 2001
It is a penetrating question, Mr. Speaker. I am tempted to move toward some partisan remarks, but I will try to restrain myself because this is very serious. It reflects the priorities of the government, whether it is cars for junior ministers—and reflecting the fact that tractors cannot move into fields—whether it is putting hundreds of millions of dollars into other highly questionable activities, or whether it is to reflect on the comments of the auditor general who has asked the question in terms of the management of hundreds of millions of dollars by the government. The auditor general has asked this question: who is minding the store?
Just on the amount of money the federal Liberal government has spilled and wasted, we could top up this amount and meet what is required for farmers facing disaster today, leaving alone the government's misplaced priorities.
Supply March 20th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, the member for Souris—Moose Mountain is not only good on history but on the future, because he is looking ahead in a proactive way.
Of course when agriculture as an industry is 8.5% of our GDP, with 1.9 million Canadians directly involved in agriculture or agriculture industry markets, it is vitally important to the entire economy of the country.
If we look back to pre-depression years, we can see that when the agriculture community was affected everything got hit, whether it was implement dealers or producers of various seed products, everything we can imagine in terms of all the products and lines that are being affected today.
I agree 100% and, as a matter of fact, it is not just a premise but a fact that our economy depends on agriculture in a very significant way.
Supply March 20th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, this is ridiculous, because all through the campaign, as a matter of fact, I gave a speech very close to this one. I said that if the U.S. and Europe were not involved in this increased subsidy game, we would not need these subsidies. However, because they are involved in that game, we need these subsidies.
I also distinctly remember a speech in Saskatchewan during the election in which a Liberal candidate said the reason farmers were not getting help was that they were not voting Liberal. Those are the kinds of comments I remember in the campaign in Saskatchewan.