House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2008, with 58% of the vote.
The Economy February 19th, 2001
Yes, Mr. Speaker. At 3.30 this afternoon I will be addressing that in a news conference complete with charts and very specific steps of action. He should come on out.
Some call it a slowdown and some call it reduced demand from outside the United States. It is incumbent upon governments to plan,—
The Economy February 19th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, the official opposition, the markets and most economists have been saying for some time that we are going into a downturn. The federal Liberals have been in constant denial about that, just whistling that we should not worry and be happy.
On Friday in the House the Deputy Prime Minister agreed with the official opposition. He said “The Canadian and U.S. economies are headed to a slowdown”.
If the Deputy Prime Minister agrees that we are headed toward a slowdown, why is the government not putting into place clear, precise steps of action to reduce the impact of that slowdown on Canadians?
Government Of Canada February 15th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, the fact is the auditor general said that the company should not have been selected.
I am certain that after two years of our questions about Shawinigan, the Prime Minister knows that there are a great many suspicions about the Prime Minister himself. There is only one way to eliminate all doubt. Why does the solicitor general not set up an independent inquiry?
Government Of Canada February 15th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, if the ethics counsellor says something positive about the Prime Minister, then it is accurate. If he says something that is not positive, then it is speculative. That is very interesting.
It was yesterday that we saw the first signs of the government starting to cry uncle as we continued on this particular file. It does not want us to ask questions. I need to ask questions on this because it was the auditor general who said that the contract that Mr. Gauthier had should not have been given to him. The auditor general that the company should not have been selected.
Why is the Deputy Prime Minister so quick to defend a contract that the auditor general was quick to condemn?
Government Of Canada February 15th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, if he believes the Liberal pollsters he would acknowledge that the Prime Minister has the lowest ratings. It is quite interesting that he has mentioned that.
We keep asking these questions. For the last couple of years every week there has been another question and every week there have been more excuses. We are seeing that today as this goes on.
While the Prime Minister was arm-twisting some $600,000 out of the president of the Business Development Bank, a federally funded regional development program was ponying up another $200,000 for the Auberge Grand-Mère. That brings the total of the bailout to $3.4 million.
Why were millions of taxpayer dollars spent to bail out a business that even the ethics counsellor is now saying the Prime Minister had a financial interest in?
Government Of Canada February 15th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, getting to the issue of accountability, which is what health care funding, education funding and all the other areas are about, if there will be more referees on the ice, it is important that there is a system of monitoring. That system has to require at least three things. It has to very clearly set out the goals of the program. It has to have a system in place to monitor the progress of the goals and then something to show whether the goals were achieved.
I would like to know if the President of the Treasury Board has consulted with any of the provinces that have these award winning systems in place to monitor a similar program because the auditor general says that they do not have this program. Or, is she just concerned with accountability as far as it goes and ends where the Prime Minister—
Government Of Canada February 15th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, I believe it is one of the responsibilities of the official opposition to give credit where credit is due when the government appears to be doing something responsible.
It seems that there is at least one person over there who is concerned about the mismanagement of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars. We hear that the President of the Treasury Board is now saying that she will be hiring and assigning 150 new auditors. We give credit for that. That is good news.
Since we have been asking questions for two years about the shenanigans in Shawinigan, how many of those new auditors will be assigned to the Shawinigan file?
Grants And Contributions February 14th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, the Deputy Prime Minister deals with material that may be up to four years old. It is the ethics counsellor who finds the Gauthier case questionable. It is the auditor general who has brought questions about receiving these funds. It is the ethics counsellor and the auditor general. Why will they not deal with this basic question of conflict of interest?
It is very clear that as the items continue to pile up on this file the questions continue to pile up. I would like to know if there is actually some other information that the Prime Minister is aware of that he does not want us to know about, and that is really the reason he will not allow the solicitor general to move ahead with an independent investigation.
Grants And Contributions February 14th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, he does not agree with either the ethics counsellor or the auditor general. I want to remind him that Claude Gauthier bought the land from the Prime Minister that helped boost the value of his shares in the neighbouring golf course. He then donated $10,000 to the Prime Minister's election campaign. During that same period of time, Mr. Gauthier received $7 million from federal government programs, nearly all of which the auditor general says he was not entitled to.
How many millions need to go to Mr. Gauthier before the solicitor general will call for an independent inquiry into this?
Grants And Contributions February 14th, 2001
Mr. Speaker, the official opposition believes that Canadians want governments to be above suspicion but not above the law, and so as the Shawinigan file continues to grow we continue to demand accountability.
Members will remember Mr. Claude Gauthier as the man who bought the piece of land from the Prime Minister back in 1996 and then donated $10,000 to his 1997 election campaign. He was also the gentleman who got the $6 million government contract, even though he was not qualified, and another $1 million from the transitional jobs fund. Now it turns out that Mr. Gauthier also lucked into $9 million worth of immigrant investor funds after the Prime Minister met with those investors.
Why would the Prime Minister not be concerned about this conflict of interest?