I haven't heard about the estimates committee and the process here within the Parliament of Canada being used elsewhere. We are a strong and prosperous nation because of the fundamental concept of parliamentary committees investigating and reporting on specific issues to the House, and the House having the capacity to hold the government accountable, in full view of the public.
When we look around the world at Kenya and elsewhere, they have very serious problems regarding services to the people, because the people cannot hold the government accountable. If they had an estimates committee that reported to the people that the government was taking the money and going away with it, and corruption was rife....
Talk about Kenya, I believe the last I heard, an MP's salary in Kenya was greater than an MP's salary in Canada. But they have to pay for the funerals of the constituents, and this and that. They run an informal welfare program out of their parliamentary offices.
We don't do that here because we demand accountability. Over there they can shell out or maybe not shell out the money, and if they don't, it's theirs. It's not accountable. It's not transparent. It is unethical, and that is why we are prosperous and they're not.