Speech (House debate)

{
    "time": "2007-04-27 12:50:00",
    "attribution": {
        "en": "Mr. Pierre Poilievre (Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board, CPC)",
        "fr": ""
    },
    "content": {
        "en": "<p data-HoCid=\"572417\" data-originallang=\"fr\">Mr. Speaker, it is interesting to see that people are talking about government accountability today, because we just learned that today, one of the major players in the sponsorship scandal has decided to plead guilty to 28 counts of fraud.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"572418\" data-originallang=\"en\">That was part of the Liberal ad scam. Jean Lafleur announced today that he will plead guilty to 28 counts of fraud. I find it interesting that under these conditions we are getting lectures from the Liberal Party, which oversaw and carried out that fraud to its own benefit, on how we ought to restore accountability in this House.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"572419\" data-originallang=\"en\">I note that the chair of the public accounts committee was part of the previous Liberal government that was responsible for that corruption and fraud. It is with a great deal of respect that I stand in this House today and honour the Federal Accountability Act and its main components by clarifying what the act was meant to accomplish and how it is meant to be implemented.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"572420\" data-originallang=\"en\">The accounting officer model was meant to clarify the roles and responsibilities of those in the senior bureaucracy, to recognize that the deputy heads in departments and throughout government have a responsibility to explain the public administration that occurs within their departments. Those individuals are answerable to Parliament. They are not accountable to Parliament. Never in the history of our parliamentary system has a deputy head ever been directly accountable to Parliament. It is not how the system works.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"572421\" data-originallang=\"en\">The minister is accountable, which is where we have a disagreement with our Liberal colleagues. The Liberal Party does not believe in ministerial responsibility. The Liberals do not want to come before the House of Commons and defend their own behaviour--</p>",
        "fr": "<p data-HoCid=\"572417\" data-originallang=\"fr\">Monsieur le Pr\u00e9sident, il est int\u00e9ressant de voir qu'aujourd'hui, on discute de la question de l'imputabilit\u00e9 et de la responsabilit\u00e9 gouvernementales parce que nous venons d'apprendre qu'un des plus grands participants au scandale des commandites a d\u00e9cid\u00e9, aujourd'hui, de plaider coupable \u00e0 28 accusations de fraude.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"572418\" data-originallang=\"en\">Ces actes criminels ont \u00e9t\u00e9 commis dans le cadre du scandale des commandites, sous le r\u00e8gne des lib\u00e9raux. Jean Lafleur a dit aujourd'hui qu'il allait plaider coupable \u00e0 28 accusations de fraude. Dans les circonstances, il est \u00e9trange de se faire donner des le\u00e7ons par le Parti lib\u00e9ral, qui a supervis\u00e9 et commis ces actes de fraude pour son propre b\u00e9n\u00e9fice, quant \u00e0 la fa\u00e7on dont nous devrions r\u00e9tablir la notion de responsabilit\u00e9 \u00e0 la Chambre</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"572419\" data-originallang=\"en\">Je remarque que le pr\u00e9sident du Comit\u00e9 des comptes publics faisait partie du gouvernement lib\u00e9ral pr\u00e9c\u00e9dent, qui \u00e9tait responsable de cette corruption et de cette fraude. C'est avec beaucoup de respect que je prends la parole aujourd'hui pour parler en faveur de la Loi f\u00e9d\u00e9rale sur la responsabilit\u00e9 et de ses principaux aspects. Je veux notamment pr\u00e9ciser l'objectif de cette mesure et comment celle-ci doit \u00eatre mise en oeuvre.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"572420\" data-originallang=\"en\">La structure fond\u00e9e sur l'administrateur des comptes vise \u00e0 clarifier les r\u00f4les et responsabilit\u00e9s des hauts fonctionnaires, \u00e0 reconna\u00eetre que les administrateurs g\u00e9n\u00e9raux de minist\u00e8re ont la responsabilit\u00e9 d'expliquer le fonctionnement de leur minist\u00e8re. Ces personnes sont responsables devant le Parlement. Elles ne rendent pas de comptes au Parlement. Dans notre syst\u00e8me parlementaire, un administrateur g\u00e9n\u00e9ral n'a jamais eu \u00e0 rendre des comptes directement au Parlement. Le syst\u00e8me ne fonctionne pas de cette fa\u00e7on. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"572421\" data-originallang=\"en\">C'est le ministre qui doit rendre des comptes, et c'est sur ce point que nous divergeons d'opinion avec les d\u00e9put\u00e9s lib\u00e9raux. Le Parti lib\u00e9ral ne croit pas \u00e0 la responsabilit\u00e9 minist\u00e9rielle. Les lib\u00e9raux ne veulent pas venir \u00e0 la Chambre des communes et d\u00e9fendre leur comportement... </p>"
    },
    "url": "/debates/2007/4/27/pierre-poilievre-1/",
    "politician_url": "/politicians/pierre-poilievre/",
    "politician_membership_url": "/politicians/memberships/1394/",
    "procedural": false,
    "source_id": "2038820",
    "h1": {
        "en": "Routine Proceedings",
        "fr": ""
    },
    "h2": {
        "en": "Committees of the House",
        "fr": ""
    },
    "h3": {
        "en": "Public Accounts",
        "fr": ""
    },
    "document_url": "/debates/2007/4/27/",
    "related": {
        "document_speeches_url": "/speeches/?document=%2Fdebates%2F2007%2F4%2F27%2F"
    }
}