NEWS RELEASE
February 4, 1998 For Immediate Delivery
Goodale Accused of Contempt in House of Commons
Ottawa -- On Tuesday, Garry Breitkreuz, M.P. for Yorkton-Melville and his Reform colleagues accused Ralph Goodale, Minister Responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) of contempt of Parliament. Rising on a Question of Privilege, Reform Agriculture Critic Jay Hill reported to the House that Mr. Goodale held a meeting in Regina on January 21, 1998 to discuss rules for the election of CWB directors. "While the House is still debating how many directors should be farmer elected versus government appointees, the minister was holding meetings as though the bill were already law," said Hill.
In response to the Speaker’s request for concrete evidence, Breitkreuz made the following statement in support of Hill’s Question of Privilege:
"The day after this meeting was held in Regina on January 21, I held a meeting in Yorkton with 300 farmers present. Some of the farmers came up to me afterward and asked me this direct question: ‘In light of what the minister is doing, he has already assumed the bill is passed. Why are we even discussing these amendments?’ They see parliament as being a useless exercise because of what the minister has done. We have really been undermined by the actions of the minister because they see us as not having any effect in this place."
Last November, when the Department of Finance acted before a bill became law the Speaker ruled, "The dismissive view of the legislative process, repeated often enough, makes a mockery of our parliamentary conventions and practices." The Speaker advised the House that he would withhold his decision until he could get more information from the Minister Responsible for the CWB.
"When the Minister has the attitude that it doesn’t matter what M.P.s or farmers have to say, he undermines my ability to do my job and the democratic principles on which this country is founded," said Breitkreuz. "Mr. Goodale can find the time to go to meetings to make rules regarding legislation that is not even law yet, but so far he can’t find the time to be in the House during the debate of the amendments to Bill C-4."
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