Correctional Service Canada  Mr. Speaker, the solicitor general stated on more than one occasion that incentive payments, some as high as $700 a week, made by CORCAN to federal inmates was a one shot deal and that Correctional Service Canada said it would never happen again. We have now learned that in the last fiscal year close to $2 million, $1.79 million, was paid for incentive allowances.

Correctional Service Canada  Yes, per week. A response like that is absolutely pathetic. The response from Correctional Service Canada is not much better. We ask officials and they say that such information is not readily available. Will the solicitor general finally come clean and answer the question? How many inmates received incentive payments and how much?

Supply  You should have heard what Trudeau used to say.

Supply  That is just the way of doing business over there.

Government Contracts  Mr. Speaker, in that case and with your wisdom from the Chair I will withdraw the word deliberate.

Government Contracts  Mr. Speaker, in all good conscience and with all the respect that I have for the House, I cannot withdraw that statement.

Government Contracts  Mr. Speaker, surely the member knows that it is not paid for until the cheque is cashed. Surely the daughter-in-law of the minister of public works informed him that the cheque had never been cashed. Therefore their stay at the luxury cottage was in fact a freebie. It was gratis, meaning that the minister clearly violated the conflict rules.

Government Contracts  Mr. Speaker, the minister stood and said that he had paid. I will not withdraw them.

Government Contracts  Mr. Speaker, clearly the cheque that was written and signed by the daughter-in-law of the minister of public works was not cashed until yesterday which means that no dollars left the account until yesterday. Therefore the minister's assertion that he had paid for his stay at this luxury cottage was inaccurate.

Government Contracts  Mr. Speaker, I can appreciate that the solicitor general cannot comment on the investigation of the RCMP, especially since a cloud still hangs over its head as a result of the political interference with APEC and Airbus. Will the solicitor general table in the House the report of the RCMP on the same day that he receives the report?

Government Contracts  Mr. Speaker, the RCMP has begun an initial probe of the government's handling of public works contracts worth a total of $1.6 million, for which the auditor general fingered senior public servants for breaking “just about every rule in the book”. RCMP Sergeant Paul Marsh says that the RCMP will conduct its preliminary work as expeditiously as possible.

Justice  Mr. Speaker, on March 12 the solicitor general, responding to a question of mine, stated that first degree murderers served an average of 28.4 years before being released back into the community. However a document recently released by the commissioner of Correctional Service of Canada contradicts the solicitor general.

Government Contracts  Mr. Speaker, under the Liberal government's culture of corruption its first response is to play the blame game: let us blame the media; let us blame the opposition; let us blame old ministers; and now let us blame the auditor general. Why will the Liberal government not own up to the fact that the culture of corruption is one that it has created and recognize that the Liberals are the ones to blame?

Government Contracts  Mr. Speaker, the public works minister lamely says that the problem has been fixed and he accepts the auditor general's report, but the Deputy Prime Minister spins that this is nothing more than an administrative error. Now the lapdog backbenchers come out and say that no, it is the auditor general and her process that is at fault.

Species at Risk Act  --or nothing for compensation, as the member for Red Deer suggests, that they will find themselves with the same fervent desire to protect that species at risk. It can guarantee nothing. We need to guarantee. We cannot lose sight of the fact that we have species that are legitimately at risk of extinction and that we have a responsibility to protect them.