November 01, 2005
Ottawa, Ontario

Prime Minister Paul Martin today made the following statement:

“Good afternoon.

On February 10th, 2004, the Auditor-General presented her report on the sponsorship program. That same day, I announced the creation of a fully independent commission of inquiry to get to the bottom of what happened – and I gave it the broadest possible mandate, so that no stone would be left unturned.

We now have the first of two reports from the commission. I accept its findings and its conclusions. On behalf of Canadians, I thank Mr. Justice John Gomery for his work.

In the days following the Auditor-General’s report, and in a national address this past spring, I apologized to Canadians for what went wrong and I took responsibility as Prime Minister - to get all the facts out in the open, to hold to account those who abused the public trust and to reform the way government works to prevent abuse in the future.

On my first day as Prime Minister, I cancelled the sponsorship program. I fired from his diplomatic posting the former minister who was responsible for the program. To recover taxpayers’ money, I ordered my government to sue 19 people and companies for $44-million. And my government put in place strict new controls on spending across all departments and hired watchdogs whose job it is to monitor and police such spending.

With the additional benefit of Judge Gomery’s first report, I have today taken a number of further actions:

• I have ordered that the report be immediately referred to the RCMP for any and all appropriate action.

• I have instructed that 12 additions be made to the list of people and companies against which the federal government has filed suit to recover public funds.

• I have asked the chairs and boards of Crown Corporations to take all additional disciplinary action judged necessary against employees who may have been involved.

• Finally, as leader of the Liberal party, I have instructed the party to immediately repay to the public purse the sum of $1.14-million – and to take steps to ban from party membership 10 individuals named in the report.

I received Judge Gomery’s report around dinner time yesterday and read it late into the night. The story that unfolds in its pages is troubling. But it’s a story that needed to be told – in full, in detail, in public. Canadians must be able to have faith in the integrity of government and in the people who administer it. In this case, that means finding out what went wrong and repairing the system to prevent it from happening again.

When I established this inquiry, I didn’t know what its investigation would uncover. But I knew that our country needed a full, fair and independent determination of the facts - not hearsay, not partisan allegations, but the facts. And that’s what this report has delivered.

Judge Gomery’s job is not yet done, however. He continues to work on his second report, due to be released three months from today. In that final report, he will recommend comprehensive steps to improve the rules under which decisions and expenditures are made. Building on reforms already put in place – reforms that focus on transparency, on accountability and on oversight – those recommendations will help to ensure the integrity of government.

In conclusion, let me reiterate that within 30 days of receiving Judge Gomery’s final report, I will call a general election and Canadians will have the opportunity to pass judgment on my response to the facts about sponsorship, on the reforms I’ve undertaken, and on the overall performance of the government I lead.

Thank you."