Madam Speaker, the member for Etobicoke Centre talked about the important initiatives the government apparently has on the books which are of pressing importance. What Canadians and my colleagues in the Conservative Party of Canada are wondering is that it has been 12 years and if these initiatives were so important why have we not seen them. These important initiatives, according to the Liberal Party, include such things as the decriminalization of marijuana. Certainly no police officer that we talk to in this country wants to see that.
Canadians clearly are ready to render judgment on the government and the Conservative Party of Canada is ready to take immediate actions to address the real needs of Canadians.
The member for Acadie--Bathurst talked about the importance of voting, and I cannot emphasize that enough. I agree with him. It is extremely important for everyone to be motivated to vote in the upcoming federal election. It is important that we clean up this culture of entitlement and corruption that exists in the party opposite and let everybody know here today that, with the developments currently going on in Ottawa, if there is a Christmas campaign, the blame will rest on the shoulders of the Prime Minister of Canada and no one else.
I am very proud to rise today on behalf of the good people of Palliser to speak to the question of privilege put forward by the hon. member for Bourassa. The hon. member for Bourassa has asked that we no longer be permitted to discuss Canada's most important issue of the day, the sponsorship scandal, with Canadians. It is a tragedy that this is the important issue that is dominating the news but that is a tragedy of the government's making.
The Gomery report has not even looked at other scandals, other things that need to be delved into, such as the Prime Minister's contracting practices at Earnscliffe, which is the only area where it has been suggested that there may have been direct involvement in improper activities.
It is very difficult to see the members opposite and the member for Bourassa as victims, which is the way they portray themselves. The only victims in this entire mess are Canadian taxpayers, good, honest, hard-working people who send their money to Ottawa and want it to be used to address their priorities of health care, front line policing and a new equalization deal for Saskatchewan, a fair deal that would allow my province of Saskatchewan to retain its oil and gas revenues that rightfully belong to the people of Saskatchewan which only the Minister of Finance is against. Of the entire province of Saskatchewan, provincial representatives and federal representatives, only the finance minister refuses to stand up for the people of Saskatchewan. These are the issues people would like to see debated.
Those are the priorities which Canadians want their taxpayer dollars to go toward. Therefore it is difficult for Canadians to see the members opposite as victims. The member for Bourassa paints himself as a victim but it looks like the member for Roberval--Lac-Saint-Jean has hit a nerve and I guess some of the truth hurts.
Let us be very clear. Justice Gomery confirmed in his report that millions of hard-earned taxpayer dollars were stolen from the public treasury to benefit the Liberal Party of Canada. That money should have been put into the priorities of Canadians. Leaders of the Liberal Party must be held politically and democratically responsible. When we are fortunate enough to have the members on this side of the House on that side of the House, we can finally clean up this mess and ensure that guilty parties are prosecuted and people are charged and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. People in my riding would like to see Liberals go to jail for this scandal and that is when they will be satisfied.