Canada - A System Of Corruption.

Excerpt From - 38th PARLIAMENT, 1st SESSION

EDITED HANSARD • NUMBER 157

Mr. Francis Scarpaleggia (Lac-Saint-Louis, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the leader of the Bloc Québécois,

I would point out to begin with that I do not need any lectures on morality from him or any of his colleagues.

I have several questions in reserve and I would like him to give me direct and brief answers.

Does the leader of the Bloc Québécois accept the Gomery report or does he doubt Justice Gomery's credibility? In other words, does he accept the entire report or only paragraph 1.4 of chapter I, but not paragraph 16.3 of chapter XVI? Does he accept the report as a whole or only selectively?

As for my second question, it deals with integrity.
The Deputy Speaker: I am sorry to interrupt, but the hon. member's time is up.

The hon. member for Laurier—Sainte-Marie.

Mr. Gilles Duceppe: Mr. Speaker, he does not want any lectures on morality. First of all, he might need an explanation of what morality is. Then perhaps he would understand things better.

Second, we do of course accept the Gomery report, even the part where Mr. Gomery writes that the Prime Minister, and finance minister, was not connected to the administration of the sponsorship program. We were saying so even before the report was released.

We also accept the part on page 47 where Justice Gomery says that the Treasury Board stopped exercising its oversight function over the programs. The Minister of Finance was second in command in this government, and especially Vice-President of the Treasury Board. That we accept.

In addition, Justice Gomery writes that the Liberal Party of Canada has, as an institution, developed a system of corruption. We accept that also.

I am pleased that our friend at last accepts something that is true, at least here in the House. I share his opinion. Justice Gomery writes on page 7 that ministers, senior public servants and executive assistants did not properly supervise the administration of this program. I accept that, perfectly and completely, from beginning to end.
[English]

Mr. Peter MacKay (Central Nova, CPC): Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to take part in this important historic debate which in no short time at all will result in Canada embarking on an important election.

The motion before the House has been clearly defined. It speaks to the need to remove the government from office for reasons that have been outlined and will be chronicled throughout the day.

Earlier this week a majority of the House of Commons voted in favour of the New Democratic Party's motion which called for an election in early February. The Liberal Party uncategorically rejected it. It is clear that the government refused to compromise, refused a non-confidence motion that at that time would have caused an election to occur after Christmas.

It is also important to note that the original timetable that was set out by the Prime Minister which would have had the second report for Gomery arrive on December 1 would have put the country in the exact same position that we are currently facing.

The government has refused once again, as it has on so many occasions, to accept the democratic will of the House. Therefore, the official opposition has now moved a motion that condemns the arrogance of the government by refusing the will of the House as it has before. It condemns the Liberal government for the culture of entitlement, corruption, scandal, gross abuse of public funds for political purposes, and massive misrepresentation.

So much of this was at one time a priority for the Prime Minister. He spoke of the democratic deficit. He spoke of the need to end the culture of who you know in the PMO. It has now become clear that he in fact has embraced another culture and that is, “How much money can we blow in the PMO? How much can we access for the sole purposes of buying public support?”

As the words fall from the Prime Minister's mouth, he knows they are untrue when he makes these types of promises. We have seen that from the very beginning when the Prime Minister came to public office with the avowed purpose of defeating free trade, with the avowed promise to axe the tax to get rid of the GST. Then in true form in Janus-faced enthusiasm, he embraced both of those policies, calling them his own and taking credit for them throughout the country. That is not the type of honesty one would expect from the high office of Prime Minister.

To preface my remarks I want to refer of course to Justice Gomery's report, which in very telling words stated:

The Report that follows chronicles a depressing story of multiple failures to plan a government program appropriately and to control waste--a story of greed, venality and misconduct both in government and advertising and communications agencies, all of which contributed to the loss and misuse of huge amounts of money at the expense of Canadian taxpayers. They are outraged and have valid reason for their anger.

These are watchwords for the campaign and will be engraved on the tombstone of the Liberal Party at the conclusion of the campaign.

The Liberal Party now sets these priorities of addressing gun violence, priorities of addressing some of the terrible things that have happened in our country's history, whether it be abuses in residential schools, whether it be historic injustices of those who have suffered at the hands of previous governments, Japanese immigrants, Ukrainians, native people. Yet all of this is happening cynically on the eve of an election rather than accepting the fact that the government has now had over 12 years to address some of these serious concerns on behalf of Canadians. This speaks again to the priorities.

The priorities of the government are now clear. The government devotes all of its energies and its unfettered access to the public purse to perpetuate itself in power by any means possible. This is a government of failures. This is a government that subordinates the interests of the country to the interests of the Liberal Party each and every time that the Liberals approach an election.

This type of governance has to end. We have seen so many examples, such as the gun registry, which is a ghastly and grievous waste of government money, public money, $2 billion for this program, while we have seen violence increase on the streets of this country. To perpetuate this type of bureaucratic monstrosity is again what I would describe as a simultaneous, face-saving, rear-end covering exercise on the part of the government.

The Liberals once again subvert the interests of Canadians to somehow avoid accountability and responsibility for their misguided policies. They consistently put blind partisanship ahead of people's interests.

Edited Hansard * Table of Contents * Number 157 (Official Version)



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