I hope we'll start with Ms. Fraser's 2003 report. As for the amounts allocated for these kinds of surveys by the Government of Canada, they totalled $6 million or $7 million in 1993, but rose to $28 million in 2002 or 2003. So they quadrupled. That's a major increase. It's not so much the amount, but the way in which the services of these polling firms have been retained that causes a problem.
As you know, no written report was provided in some cases. Mr. Alghabra spoke earlier about fairness and the need to contact a larger number of persons. From what I understand, in a number of cases, calls to tender were not made. Someone was simply selected. Even worse, that person's report wasn't even submitted.
We want to know what happened. I also hope that this person will advise us about the future. I want that person to tell us how the government should proceed when it conducts surveys. So that person will make recommendations to the government in that area.