Canada Elections Act  The government House leader says read the bill. I think the committee will want to study the provisions on MP trust pretty carefully. Let us talk about transparency. One desirable aspect of the bill is the goal of promoting greater openness and transparency. However here there are real problems.

Canada Elections Act  Mr. Speaker, I started out today with mere skepticism about what the Prime Minister was up to but after listening to his speech, I guess my skepticism can only rise. For a man who claims there is no problem at all with corruption and undue influence in his government, he is sure making an awfully big deal about fixing it.

Goods and Services Tax  Mr. Speaker, it is not good enough to say “the courts”. The government and the minister should know the answer to this question. We would not be fishing for this answer if there had not been a backroom deal between the CCRA and Treasury Board to cover up this information for years.

Goods and Services Tax  Mr. Speaker, over the last few months reports have been circulating of losses on GST fraud of up to $1 billion. The revenue minister has denied this, but case after case has been leaking out. The minister has not been exactly forthcoming with information, but instead will only give us information on actual convictions for GST fraud.

Goods and Services Tax  Mr. Speaker, we are never going to shut up until we get the answers to these questions. Let me move this subject slightly to explore links between the latest GST rebate fraud and terrorism. The sum of $22 million of taxpayers' money was funnelled through a credit union run by Ripudaman Singh Malik.

Goods and Services Tax  Mr. Speaker, reports are airing today on the latest GST fraud scam: $22 million collected in rebates by phony lumber companies. We now know that the Auditor General warned of this specific case in 1999 yet, instead of auditing the claim, the government sent it back into the system with approval for a refund cheque.

Goods and Services Tax  Mr. Speaker, for weeks the minister has been telling the House that GST fraud is no more than $25 million and here is a case of where it is $22 million alone. The question is obvious. Instead of feeding us these horse feathers, when will the minister come to the House and come clean on the real size of GST fraud in the country?

Goods and Services Tax  Mr. Speaker, that is the government that shut down the GST fraud unit and stopped reporting GST losses in the public accounts in 1994. Even though this case was flagged and even though revenue ministers and finance ministers knew about the fraud in this case, managers at the credit union said that individuals were walking out with bags full of tens of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money.

Foreign Affairs committee  He has made it very clear that he doesn't want to be there for the long haul, and he has recognized that the notion that we can export full-blown democracy to Afghanistan is not realistic given the social, economic, and political circumstances, not just in Afghanistan but in the region as a whole.

Health  Mr. Speaker, I would stay away from the rhetoric about money and pressure and concentrate on cooperation to get the details worked out. The deal signed yesterday commits to establishing a health council to monitor and make annual reports. The health council will work with representatives from the provinces, the federal government, research institutions and existing organizations.

Health  Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister will admit that the federal-provincial deal is a framework at this point in which many details are left to be worked out, including primary care reform, home care services, catastrophic drug coverage, the accountability and reporting framework and, of course, participation of territorial governments.

Health  What Canadians really want, of course, is better access to doctors and hospital beds and shorter waiting lists. I ask the Prime Minister, how long will Canadians have to wait to see this agreement lead to real improvement in the delivery of health care services?

Health  Mr. Speaker, last night the premiers and the Prime Minister signed a deal that is a commendable start to improving health care for Canadians. Among the positive features are funding to restore the core of the health care system, flexibility for provinces in implementing new services and no restrictions on private health care delivery within the public system.

Foreign Affairs  Mr. Speaker, we are assessing the evidence. Canadians expect the government to be able to do that on its own for the benefit of the rest of the world. Major countries have said that Iraq is in material breach of resolutions. I do not understand why the government is unable to. What is the logic at this point of giving Saddam Hussein the benefit of the doubt?

Foreign Affairs  Mr. Speaker, we all know that Secretary of State Powell for the United States made a presentation this morning to the United Nations. The presentation was described and the evidence presented. It has been described by the Minister of Foreign Affairs as disturbing and persuasive.