Question Period- Hansard May 13/05

Sponsorship Program

Mr. Michel Guimond (Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, BQ): Mr. Speaker, people no longer have any confidence in this tainted government that no longer has a shred of credibility. Every day, the Gomery inquiry reveals more about the involvement of the entire Liberal Party in the schemes of the sponsorship scandal.

How is that last year, before the Gomery inquiry began, the Prime Minister was able to justify holding an election by saying Canadians knew enough about the sponsorship scandal, but now that we know the extent of the corruption in the Liberal Party, he is claiming Canadians do not yet know enough?

[English]

Hon. Joe Fontana (Minister of Labour and Housing, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, our Prime Minister had the courage and conviction to put the Gomery commission in place to get to the truth.

We have been witnessing today and in the past number of days that people have been coming forward. Judge Gomery is doing a very, very good job on behalf of Canadians to get to the truth.

We are not afraid of the truth. You might be afraid of the truth, but we definitely are not afraid of the truth.

The Speaker: I remind hon. members to address their remarks to the Chair rather than to each other.

[Translation]

Mr. Michel Guimond (Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, BQ): Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government has financed three elections with dirty money. This was confirmed by Marc-Yvan Côté, former chief organizer in eastern Quebec. In the meantime, the testimony by Daniel Dezainde, former director general of the Liberal Party has revealed that Jacques Corriveau had set up a kickback system on the contracts to benefit the Liberal Party and instead of taking action, Dezainde put a lid on the whole thing.

Will the Prime Minister confirm that he is desperately hanging on and refusing to hold a confidence vote on Monday because he now feels that the public knows enough?

Á (1145)

[English]

Hon. Joe Fontana (Minister of Labour and Housing, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, the people do not know enough now. Judge Gomery has been given a broad mandate to hear all the evidence and to hear from all the parties to ensure the people have all the information they need. People have already said that they want to wait for Judge Gomery's report until such time as they have an election. Let Judge Gomery do his work.

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[Translation]