Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I think it's extremely important that we parliamentarians are now looking at the ethical problem currently raised in the public sphere.
The ethical question is being addressed everywhere, whether it be here, in Parliament, or elsewhere. We're talking about how politicians behave. We're currently witnessing absolutely unacceptable behaviour which parliamentarians must examine. I'm talking about the partisan use of public funds by Conservative members of Parliament. They sign, in their own name or in that of the Prime Minister, a number of cheques, sometimes bearing the Conservative Party logo, when public funds being used involved. Taxpayers, people and citizens are therefore being misled. There's a kind of confusion.
Twelve ministers are involved. We're talking about 223 cheques representing $594 million, which were publicly represented as cheques from a party, often signed by a minister or the Prime Minister, whereas these were government subsidies. They came from taxpayers, from the public Treasury, not from a political party. I think rules of ethics must be examined by this committee so that we can see how people should behave in these kinds of situations and further evaluate the kinds of practices of parliamentarians.
That's the question I want to raise this morning.