Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Questions on Mulroney/Schreiber PMO Correspondence

Hon. Judy Sgro (York West, Lib.):  

Mr. Speaker, we all know that Mr. Schreiber sent many letters to the Prime Minister, including at least two outlining serious allegations since June 2006. The Prime Minister continues to say that only senior public servants saw these letters, as well as a few from PMO.

Will the Prime Minister finally shed some light on this? Will he table in the House the official correspondence routing records, what staff saw these records and on what date?

Hon. Rob Nicholson (Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has set in place a course of action that I think most Canadians would appreciate is reasonable. He asked a very eminent Canadian, Dr. Johnston, to have a look at this and set the parameters for a public inquiry. We should await his report.

Hon. Judy Sgro (York West, Lib.):

Mr. Speaker, if the Conservatives have nothing to hide, what is the problem?

The Prime Minister's Office claims that these troubling allegations stayed in the Privy Council Office. Are Canadians supposed to believe that PCO did not warn the Prime Minister to keep his distance from Mr. Mulroney while they were repeatedly arranging meetings between the two men?

The Prime Minister praised Mr. Mulroney in a speech just last April, after these allegations were sent to his office. When the Prime Minister said that Mr. Mulroney would be remembered as Canada's greenest prime minister, was he talking about the money?

Hon. Rob Nicholson (Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, members will remember that about a week ago the Liberals were screaming for a public inquiry. When they were given a public inquiry, they first could not figure out that they got what they had asked for. Now I am not quite sure what they want. However, we have indicated that a full public inquiry with respect to these issues is the appropriate way to go.