The Government  Speaker, Brian Mulroney may be gone but his legacy of damn the voters lives on in the Liberal government. Patronage, arrogance and the appearance of corruption were all hallmarks of Mulroney's regime and the same can be said for the members opposite. I thought I would never see it but the government's refusal to have the heritage minister resign surpasses even the Mulroney Tories in shoddy ethical standards.

Transport  The only difference is the Liberal machine is in desperate need of repair. I wonder if corruption is a federal or a provincial responsibility. Since the Minister of Transport is also going to be named as a defendant, I will place the question to him. Will he recommend to the Prime Minister that he tell the public works minister to return the money he diverted to buy votes in his riding or at least step down pending the results-

Ontario Election  On the subject of mergers, the leader of the federal PCs should merge not with Reform but with the Liberals with whom he has much more in common, especially since Liberal cabinet ministers started to follow the corrupt patronage practices of the former Tory government. I am not one to wish my life away, but I am looking forward to 1997.

Members Of Parliament Retiringallowances Act  We are paid reasonably so that we can afford to devote ourselves full time to the job and, to be quite honest, so we will be harder to corrupt. Frankly, that is money well spent. MPs who are struggling to survive and to keep the wolf away from the door are obviously more susceptible to improper approaches. So we have good reason for paying politicians and for paying them reasonably well.

Canadian Wheat Board Act  They are bills that are very important to Canadians and they should have full debate in the House. This follows on the heels of the corruption we have seen in the government on the part of the heritage minister, which has not been dealt with by the Prime Minister, who would have called for the resignation of the heritage minister had he been willing to deal with this issue the way he should.

Supply  Mr. Speaker, after the last couple of months here, after seeing the corruption across the floor with regard to the patronage we have been talking about in question period over the last few months, and after seeing a lot of really bad legislation like the budget, Bill C-68, Bill C-41, the MP pension reform which really does very little to reform, I understand the member's frustration.

Supply  In a recent poll published at the end of last week in the Financial Post , a large majority of Canadians really felt they were paying too much in taxes and they were even willing to take illegal measures to avoid paying tax because they felt that governments were wasteful, corrupt, inefficient, that programs were not giving value, and that the money they were giving to government was not giving them bang for the buck. It was not worth the money they were giving up in taxes for what they were getting back.

Helicopter Purchase  How can the minister justify the fact that the government is about to acquire 47 new helicopters at a cost of $2.6 billion, when it is still negotiating the compensation to be paid for cancelling the current contract with Agusta, a firm which is the subject of very serious accusations of corruption and bribery in Europe?

Minister Of Canadian Heritage  Mr. Speaker, in my six years as an MP I have seen government patronage and corruption at its very worst. I listened to Liberal howls of outrage and calls for integrity, competence and honour when they were in opposition. Now they are sitting on the other side of the House and of course the tune has changed.

Human Rights  There is a great opportunity for China and for us in dealing with China. The Chinese government must control corruption. It must solidify economic reform and it must carry out democratization not just from the communes but on through the villages, the towns, the cities and ultimately in the national government.

Agusta  Given that Agusta just hired the Liberal Party of Canada's former communications director, Daniel Despins, to lobby for the sale of new helicopters to the Canadian government, and given that all cabinet members know him well, how can the Deputy Prime Minister not commit to launching an investigation into the awarding of the EH-101 contract to Agusta before the government does any more business with the company, which is, as I already said, currently facing corruption charges in Europe?

Agusta  How can the Prime Minister allow his government to pay compensation to Agusta from public funds, without any investigation into this $6 billion contract to purchase EH-101 helicopters, when Agusta is currently facing charges of corruption and influence peddling in Italy and Belgium? [English]

National Defence  My question is for the Minister of National Defence. Given that the president of Agusta was arrested last week in Italy on charges of corruption, fraud and unethical practices in relation to several government contracts, how can the minister continue to refuse to investigate the circumstances surrounding the Canadian government's EH-101 contract with Agusta at a time when the government is about to pay millions of dollars for breaking its contract with the company?

Agusta  Would the minister of public works agree that the government should stop all negotiations with Agusta and conduct a judicial investigation into the circumstances around the awarding of the EH-101 contract, considering the many serious charges of corruption and misappropriation of funds pending against Agusta in Europe?

Members Of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act  In the past, Canadian governments have been marked in their leadership and have been characterized by inaccessibility, arrogance, a disregard for the masses, in fact contempt for the masses, some corruption, and rule from an ivory tower mentality, a them versus us mentality. The proof was in the last election, when the government of the day was in no uncertain terms turfed from its position in government into an insignificant number in the House.