PM instucts MPs to tell nation we're honest'

PM instructs MPs to tell nation 'we're honest'

Two Liberals under fire

Jane Taber

National Post, with files from Southam News

Barnes

OTTAWA - Jean Chrétien yesterday instructed his MPs to go out and defend themselves against critics who accuse Cabinet ministers and other senior politicians of corruption and conflicts.

In a rallying call to his government, Mr. Chrétien defended his MPs in the House of Commons and told them in a caucus meeting that it is time to go ahead and fight the pressand tell the nationwe're honest.

The Prime Minister even warned the Liberal caucus that frivolous accusations of corruption against his government are discrediting all politicians and creating the kind of public cynicism that gives rise to extremists like France's Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Speaking behind closed doors in his weekly meeting of MPs in Ottawa, Mr. Chrétien talked about his concern over a recent poll showing 69% of Canadians felt their federal and provincial political systems are corrupt.

Blaming an irresponsible media and provocative newspaper headlines for the perception, he said: "Start telling them that we're honest.

Liberal MPs, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mr. Chrétien expressed very sincere and grave concerns about this week's French presidential election, in which Mr. Le Pen, the anti-immigrant leader of the extreme right National Front, finished a surprising second.

He thought one of the reasons it turned out the way it did was because the media portrayed all politicians as corrupt, an MP said.

The Prime Minister was vigorously questioned by opposition MPs during Question Period about perceptions of conflicts of interest involving Sheila Copps, the Minister of Canadian Heritage, and Sue Barnes, a London, Ont., MP who is chairwoman of the Commons finance committee.

Mr. Chrétien challenged Randy White, a B.C. Alliance MP, to have the guts to make an accusation and prove the Minister has a conflict of interest.

Mr. White was questioning the Prime Minister about reports in the National Post that Ms. Copps's department gave $1-million to an organization whose chairman has signed on as chief fundraiser for her leadership bid.

Mr. Chrétien then accused the opposition of fuelling the public's negative perception of politicians.

Mr. Speaker, the Alliance always uses the word corrupt with anything.... All it does is throw mud and it hurts all Members of Parliament, he said.

John Reynolds, the interim Alliance leader in the Commons, said the Prime Minister is wrong to portray negative comments about government officials as mere opposition mudslinging.

Rather, Mr. Reynolds said, concerns about Ms. Copps's planned fundraising and her department's use of public funds is based on a belief that the actions are morally and ethically wrong.

He urged Mr. Chrétien to ensure that the guidelines the Prime Minister has promised to introduce by the end of next month include an explicit ban on this kind of fundraising.

[Ministers] have a choice: Either don't raise any money until the day the Prime Minister announces the race is on or quit your job and start running.

The Prime Minister was also forced during Question Period to defend Ms. Barnes over allegations that she is in a conflict of interest because she scuttled amendments to a tax bill that would have helped microbreweries.

Ms. Barnes's husband is a senior executive with Labatt.

The Copps and Barnes controversies are just the latest in a string of recent allegations involving concerns over potential conflicts of interest, and government waste and mismanagement.

Last Monday, a Leger Marketing poll detailed Canadians' negative perceptions of politicians and politics.

The poll prompted Alliance and Tory MPs to question the Prime Minister even more aggressively about the ethics of his government.

Mr. Chrétien accused the opposition of hypocrisy and said he has never lost a minister to scandal.

This government has been in office for nine years and none of the Cabinet ministers have been forced to resign because of this problem, while we have seen more than half a dozen in a few years with the Tories when they were in power, he told the Commons.

During the closed-door caucus session, however, the Prime Minister expressed concern about the poll and blamed the media for the negative perception of politicians among Canadians.

He joked that if he doesn't adjust his tie properly, It's tiegate, according to an insider.

He also made light of stories relating to his home riding of Shawinigan, which involved reports of loans to an inn and interests in a nearby golf course.

Mr. Chrétien reportedly said it was the typical Canadian scandal. No violence, no sex and I lost money. But it's a scandal.

He challenged his MPs to go out and take on the media.

Stan Keyes, his national caucus chairman, did just that, leaving the caucus meeting to blame the media for the public's negative perception of politicians and their profession.

What's contributing and fuelling that perception is the national news media -- why is the national news media being so negative and down in the mouth and attacking and using any opportunity to use the word 'scandal?' Mr. Keyes said.

You have as much of a role to play in this whole thing as the politicians trying to do their job. You have to be the carrier of the message.

But I know you're all trying to sell your newspapers ... and airtime. I can understand your drive and your ambition.