Health committee  Right now, all I can say is we have extremely aggressive targets to meet by 2016 to bring down our sodium from the current level of 3,400 to 2,300, and we are—

Health committee  Thank you. I'm really struggling with this. Salt is an urgent public health issue. Canadians consume 3,400 milligrams—more than double the recommended, at 1,500. I'm going to come back at this by asking, why aren't we going after a mandatory reduction?

Health committee  But 1,500 mg a day is not the same as 3,400 mg a day.

Natural Resources committee  We operate in seven Canadian provincial jurisdictions, with a significant presence in British Columbia, Ontario, and Atlantic Canada and 3,400 Canadian employees coast to coast. Our operations have deep roots in Canada, more than 50 years of history in B.C., and this year we celebrate 100 years of operations at Union Gas. My written testimony highlights our Canadian and North American footprint and operations in more detail.

Official Languages committee  Thanks to this investment, by 2013 we expect 15,000 health professionals to have received French and English second language training in Quebec. We also expect to see close to an additional 3,400 French-speaking health professionals working outside Quebec. We believe these measures will significantly increase the opportunities for citizens across the country to receive health care in the language of their choice.

House debate  That $122,000 could have paid for other things, such as the salaries of several nurses, for example. How about the two VIA Rail press releases that cost taxpayers $3,400 to draft and post online? That is another connected Conservative consultant. It is quite astounding when we look at some of the waste and mismanagement of the government. It certainly frustrates Canadians, and I know it certainly frustrates me, at a time when we are being forced to cut back and at a time when more people are unemployed, when we have record unemployment and when we have a record number of seniors living in poverty.

Public Accounts committee  There are nearly 3,400 projects.

Public Accounts committee  Do those buildings cover all of Canada or a specific region? There must be some enormous buildings, given the ratio of 351 to 3,400.

Public Accounts committee  I appreciate the comments made by Madame Faille as well. Just to respond to a point with regard to the example I used of $3,400 for a press release of 1,300 words, that pertained to outside consultants. I actually have a great deal of respect for our public servants and the work they do. The point I was trying to illustrate was this government's mismanagement in spending.

Public Accounts committee  I don't think there's any need to belittle research by talking about a press release that costs $3,400. It's ridiculous, because no press release goes out without hours and hours of research and writing. I don't want to belittle anybody's work. I don't think it's necessary. This is a very reasonable response to the member's request.

Public Accounts committee  Maybe he can be a bit more detailed in his response. Last week in the House of Commons, I brought up an example of how this government spent $3,400 for a 1,300-word press release. I'm not sure I would appreciate any type of accusations of the cost implications of this request. This is a committee that's doing work on behalf of parliamentarians for a pertinent report on an issue of transparency, and this issue speaks to the core of what we're trying to get at, which is value for taxpayers' dollars.

Sustaining Canada's Economic Recovery Act  Last week I had the opportunity to highlight two examples of where the government has really misspent and they highlight a bigger problem. The government outsourced the VIA Rail press releases at a cost of $3,400 for approximately 1,300 words. That was completely unnecessary. This reflected the bigger problem. I want to highlight the fact that the most recent public accounts show that the Conservatives spent $9.4 billion on external contracts for professional and special services, a $2.2 billion increase over the previous Liberal government.

Points of Order  Speaker, I am getting up on a point of order to ask for unanimous consent with respect to a question I asked during question period. It pertained to consultants charging the government and taxpayers $3,400 for two press releases that contained about 1,300 words, and the minister of state in response said he would investigate the matter. I have the press releases here, and I would like to table these documents to help the minister with his investigation.

Government Spending  Last fall, the Conservatives hired Greg Gormick to write two press releases. He was paid $1,200 for one and $2,200 for the other. That is $3,400 for 1,300 words. It is also worth noting that the consultant was later given a job with the Conservative member for Peterborough. Public servants could have prepared these press releases at a fraction of the cost.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  And if you subtract from that the errors and omissions insurance of about $200, we're sitting at $3,400. We did a survey of all of the law societies across the country. On average, a CSIC member pays 34% more than the average that a lawyer pays--