Hansard: The Best Seller Series from QP Nov. 16, 05

For all those who went Christmas shopping or didn't have time to read . . .

Hansard: QP Nov. 16, 05

Airports

Hon. Stephen Harper (Leader of the Opposition, CPC): Mr. Speaker, Torontonians are increasingly upset over the huge fee hikes at Pearson International Airport. The airport says that the fee hike is necessary because the federal government is charging unreasonable ground rent. [. . . . ]

Hon. Jean Lapierre (Minister of Transport, Lib.): . . . . we are giving them $5 billion in relief. . . . coming by 2011. [. . . . ]

Equalization

Hon. Stephen Harper (Leader of the Opposition, CPC): . . . . The Prime Minister is also failing Saskatchewan on equalization. The government promised to reform the equalization program in 2004 for Saskatchewan. The government now says it will not get to that until at least 2006, costing Saskatchewan over $750 million in lost revenue.

When will the Prime Minister overrule his finance minister and make the changes necessary, so Saskatchewan does not lose this money?

Hon. Ralph Goodale (Minister of Finance, Lib.): . . . the reform process that we launched in 2004 with respect to equalization is going forward. . . . payments of $799 million in the last 18 months.

[Check further for details; Saskatchewan is NOT happy. NJC]

Sponsorship Program

Hon. Stephen Harper (Leader of the Opposition, CPC): . . . the Premier of Saskatchewan does not buy that [. . . . ]

It is now 16 days since Justice Gomery made his report public. In it, he says that certain Liberal riding associations in Quebec pocketed stolen money, but the names of those ridings remains a mystery.

Will the Prime Minister be frank enough to make public the names of these ridings that used money stolen from the taxpayers?

Hon. Jean Lapierre (Minister of Transport, Lib.): . . . read Justice Gomery's report. All the points Justice Gomery wished to examine are covered by it. Now, if any investigation is required, that will be the role of the RCMP. I know that all stakeholders are prepared to speak to the RCMP at any time.

[Didn't PM/PMO set the parameters of the investigation so that the names of the ridings may not be in the scope of the investigation and thus the report? What are the ridings, then? No answer here. NJC]

Mr. Peter MacKay (Central Nova, CPC): Mr. Speaker, in reference to ad scam the Prime Minister said, “The problem did not lay with the concept of the sponsorship program”. That concept, according to cabinet material examined by Justice Gomery included, “strengthening of the organization of the Liberal Party of Canada in Quebec”.


Hansard: QP, Nov. 16, 05 -- Mr. Jim Prentice (Calgary Centre-North, CPC): Mr. Speaker, the chief at the time of the theft [Keeseekoose] was the Liberal candidate, but in fairness, I am not surprised that the minister is confused. It is difficult for all Canadians to actually keep a clear picture of which Liberals are under RCMP investigation and which are not, which have been convicted and which have not, and which have been banned from the party for life and which have not.

End of Hansard excerpt




Related

GOMERY’S SECOND REPORT, PARTIES NOW AND IN ELECTION, MUST CLEAN UP SYSTEM TO PREVENT WASTE, CORRUPTION November 3, 2005, Democracy Watch -- on closing the loopholes. This is an excellent list. Check it. Here is one example, only.

* make the lobbying disclosure law effective by requiring Ministers and senior public officials to disclose all their meetings/communications with anyone (paid or unpaid) lobbying them, and make the watchdog for lobbyists independent of Cabinet control, and require lobbyists to disclose how much they spend on each lobbying campaign and their past work with any Canadian or foreign government, political party or candidate, and clearly ban lobbyists from working with any government, political party or candidate;

Check the rest; they're good.



For another perspective: Listen: Radio Free CPC -- interviews with various Conservative MP's