Hon. Scott Brison (Minister of Public Works and Government Services, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, this is what the Auditor General said about public opinion research for the government:

Overall, public opinion research was managed transparently, with roles and responsibilities clearly defined.

We have taken steps to strengthen public opinion research. We continue to do so, as does the private sector. We will continue to engage Canadians, seek their input and build public policies that reflect their values.

Hon. Stephen Harper (Leader of the Opposition, CPC)

Mr. Speaker, fortunately we soon will not have to listen to answers like that for a long, long time.

It appears that Liberal penance is expensive. Since the Gomery report, the Prime Minister has been making spending promises at the rate of $1 billion a day, and that does not even include the recent mini-budget.

Since most of these announcements are not funded in any of the three budgets the Liberals tabled this year, why should anyone believe these promises?

Hon. Anne McLellan (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, we are in the business of governing. We are in the business of fulfilling commitments that were made in either the Speech from the Throne or our budgets.

I would love to know from the opposition members which of these things they would not do: compensation for residential school victims, forestry sector aid, support for affordable housing or better services for immigrants. Let us hear from those people which of those would they not fund. Which of those do they not support to improve the quality of life in the country for all Canadians?

Mr. Peter MacKay (Central Nova, CPC)

Mr. Speaker, the real question is, which of these things will the Liberals actually do? They have had 12 years to do it.

Billions of dollars were announced today in spending with no accountability mechanisms built in. Justice Gomery said that the poorly planned sponsorship program was:

-- a depressing story of multiple failures to plan a government program appropriately and to control waste—a story of greed, venality and misconduct...

This vote-buying spree with no clear plans will only perpetuate that type of waste. Has the Prime Minister learned nothing from ad scam? Why would any Canadian believe he actually intends to do these things?

Hon. Scott Brison (Minister of Public Works and Government Services, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, this is what Justice Gomery said in his report:

The persons responsible for these irregularities have been identified and reproached for their errors and misconduct. The procedure for uncovering wrongdoing is ponderous and expensive, but in the long run it works fairly well.

Canadians should not forget that the vast majority of our public officials and politicians do their work honestly, diligently and effectively, and emerged from this inquiry free of blame. Justice Gomery did not tarnish the reputations of everybody who works hard on behalf of Canadians, like that hon. member is doing.

Mr. Peter MacKay (Central Nova, CPC)

Mr. Speaker, we can kiss off that promise.

Today the government announced a costly and unsuccessful step in the tragic 20 year journey of pain for the families of Air-India, more unanswered questions.

The hesitant half measures announced today by the rushed report from Liberal recruit Bob Rae do not respond to the numerous concerns raised by the victims' families. They include issues of terrorist funding, immigration, judicial accountability and witness intimidation.

Will the Deputy Prime Minister commit today to follow the wishes of the families, respect the will of Parliament and have a broad, inclusive, headed by a judge, public inquiry and finally let justice be done into the worst mass murders and terrorist attacks in Canadian history?

Hon. Anne McLellan (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, as I have just indicated, I will accept the recommendations of the Hon. Bob Rae in relation to the second stage of this investigation or inquiry. He has identified for us the questions that we can answer and that will ensure, we hope, that this kind of tragedy does not happen again and does not befall the families of other victims.

I also want to inform the House that I had the opportunity to meet with the families just a little while ago. I have indicated that I will look at their additional questions and some of them will be added--

The hon. member for Laurier—Sainte-Marie.

Mr. Gilles Duceppe (Laurier—Sainte-Marie, BQ)

Mr. Speaker, we have questioned the Minister of Public Safety about U.S. prison planes stopping over in Canadian airports. The minister responded that she had no information about such allegations. So the hon. member for Marc-Aurèle-Fortin sent her a letter informing her of the flight numbers and asked her to conduct a follow-up.

Has the minister followed up? If so, can she tell us if these U.S. planes carrying prisoners who might be tortured did indeed come through Canada?

Hon. Anne McLellan (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, I did receive such a letter yesterday afternoon after question period. I have referred the letter to my department officials and have asked them to follow up on the issues raised by the hon. member.

I go back to what I said before. I have received no information or evidence whatsoever that those planes were involved in any act that one would describe as extraordinary rendition.

I want it to be absolutely clear that we have not in this country returned anyone to a country where they would face a substantial risk of torture.

Mr. Gilles Duceppe (Laurier—Sainte-Marie, BQ)

Mr. Speaker, I was certainly not expecting the CIA to call first to warn her that planes carrying prisoners would stop over here on their way to other countries.

Rather, we are asking her to verify this, and I am surprised that she has not taken the time to do so. This has been in the papers for several days now. Surely she reads the papers.

Oh, oh!

Mr. Gilles Duceppe

If the Minister of Transport would pipe down, I will continue.

As a matter of fact, the minister has not verified anything, while other countries have. Does she take this seriously or is she trying, instead, to do what she did in the Maher Arar case, meaning do nothing and let human rights abuses occur?

Hon. Anne McLellan (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, as I just said, I received the letter yesterday. I referred the letter to my department officials and have asked them to follow up.

Let me again go back to what I have said. I have received no information that would indicate that any plane has landed in Canada anywhere that has been involved in the act of extraordinary rendition.

However I received the letter and I have asked my officials to follow up.

Mr. Serge Ménard (Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, BQ)

Mr. Speaker, the minister has already told us on several occasions that, to her knowledge, there was no information indicating, and no real reason to believe, that CIA prison planes had landed in Newfoundland. There can be no flights over Canadian territory without our knowledge and without the filing of a flight plan.

I have two very simple questions for the minister. Was she aware of the existence of those flights? Was she aware that CIA-owned aircraft had used Canadian territory to carry out their operations?

Hon. Anne McLellan (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, as I have said, I have no knowledge that any planes were used in relation to the act of extraordinary rendition.

I have received the hon. member's letter and I have asked my officials to follow up on his letter. In fact, if he has some secret information it might be very useful if he shared it with us.

Mr. Serge Ménard (Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, BQ)

Mr. Speaker, we understand that she does not know, but what we would like to know is this: does she want to know? Several countries have expressed concerns and are calling upon the United States for explanations because they fear human rights have been violated.

Is the minister herself not concerned by that possibility? Rather than repeating that she has no information, ought she not to be concerned with wondering whether this impacts on Canada's international responsibility, or whether the horrible experience of Maher Arar is not being repeated because of her indifference?

Hon. Pierre Pettigrew (Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, the Deputy Prime Minister has been very clear. We have no reliable information, nor any reason that would lead us to believe that the aircraft that landed at St. John's was anything other than a private plane. If we were to learn that the U.S. was indeed using Canadian territory for those purposes, we would obviously raise the issue with the appropriate American authorities.

Hon. Jack Layton (Toronto—Danforth, NDP)

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister likes to claim that he has done a great deal to combat climate change. He loves talking about it. He even promised to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20%. Yet, 12 years after these Liberal promises, we are told that Canada's emissions have not decreased, but increased by 24%, the worst record of any developed nation.

Can the Prime Minister explain to us why he is doing the direct opposite of what he promised?

Hon. Stéphane Dion (Minister of the Environment, Lib.)

Mr. Speaker, it would be correct to say, as I have said many times, that Canada is far from having the toughest objective to reach among the Kyoto protocol signatory countries. That is why we must all work together to achieve it and we have a plan for that.

However, it seems that working all together unfortunately does not include the leader of the NDP, who instead of giving Canada every chance by avoiding an election at the very moment we are hosting a conference on climate change, has chosen to join forces with the Conservative leader, who wants to kill Kyoto and the separatist leader, who wants to destroy Canada. Shame on the leader of the NDP.