Thank you very much, Chair
Thank you to our witnesses. I appreciate your being here.
I only have a few minutes, so let me just say to Mr. Dinsdale that given the fact you've come here today on behalf of first nations and said that this is creating new barriers.... Quite frankly, if this government had the respect they should have for our first nations people, that alone should be enough to bring this process to a screeching halt, and give more people—meaning Canadians themselves—an opportunity to comment on this. But they're not. I'm so glad you're here putting a face on the Canadians who stand to lose their precious vote.
But I want to swing over to Mr. Thorsteinson by way of commenting on your talk about the lack of documentation for the rebates that are given. While the government doesn't seem to be affected by the first nations, by the opposition, by the Chief Electoral Officer, the commissioner of elections, or an other expert who has commented on this, they've really done it now, because they've riled up Sheila Fraser. If there's one person in this country who Canadians count on to tell them the truth, it's Sheila Fraser. What did Madam Fraser say, as quoted in the media:
There's such a fuss being made about lunch money and what (politicians) spend for travel and (yet) the political parties get more than $30 million (in rebates and tax credits) and there's no real accounting back.... In this era when everybody’s talking about increased transparency and accountability, why would they not be subject to some kind of audit?
This refers to the fact that, of the $66 million in the last election that the federal parties—all of them—paid, they got $33 million back in rebates and they didn't have to provide a single receipt. There was no need to bring a receipt. I've mentioned before that it used to be around here, when I first got here—it was only changed a couple of years ago—that you could submit a $25 expense claim for a cab without a receipt, because it was deemed to be a small, minor administrative matter. Then, in this new era, everybody said, “Well, wait a minute. You can't go giving out 25 bucks without a receipt. What the heck.” Here we are giving away $33 million with no receipts.
So, Mr. Thorsteinson, if you would comment on how that looks from outside the Ottawa bubble, I'd appreciate your thoughts.