Prime Minister Paul Martin said he has handed Justice Gomery's report to the RCMP in order to investigate further the corruption in the federal sponsorship program.

Martin also announced that he has banned for life 10 prominent Liberals from the party -- including former public works minister Alfonso Gagliano -- who were named in the report.

In his official response to Gomery's newly-released report on the sponsorship program, Martin said: "I accept its findings and its conclusions. On behalf of Canadians, I thank Mr. Justice John Gomery for his work."

The prime minister stressed that his government has already put in place "strict new controls on spending ... and hired watchdogs whose job it is to monitor and police such spending."

Flanked by Public Works Minister Scott Brison and Transport Minister Jean Lapierre at a press conference, Martin outlined other actions his party will undertake immediately, including:

• the addition of 12 more parties to a list of civil suits, in which claimants are attempting to recover a total of $57 million that individuals and corporations allegedly stole from public funds under the now-defunct sponsorship program;
• the instruction to current Crown corporation chiefs to take "appropriate administrative or civil actions" against anyone associated or implicated in the scandal; and
• that the Liberal party immediately repay the sum of $1.14 million to the public purse.

Lapierre, who also acts as Martin's Quebec lieutenant, said that other names banned from the Liberal party include Jacques Corriveau, Michel Beliveau, Benoit Corbeil, Joe Morselli, Tony Mignacca and Serge Gosselin.

Martin said former prime minister Jean Chretien is not one of those to be banned.

When asked about his reaction to being exonerated in the report, Martin said he was "obviously pleased.

"But what I am most concerned with is to make sure that in fact the actions are taken following Mr. Justice Gomery's conclusions, and we get on with the second report," he said.

"I believe we have an opportunity here to improve substantially the way that government works and I don't want to miss that opportunity," he said.

Martin concluded his prepared statement by repeating his promise to call an election 30 days after Gomery's final report into the sponsorship scandal, which is expected in February.

"Canadians will have the opportunity to pass judgment on my response to the facts about sponsorship, on the reforms that I've undertaken, and on the overall performance of the government I lead," he said.