It sounds as if we're back to Mr. Ran Quail and Mr. Alfonso Gagliano all over again. While they were talking about everything being squeaky clean from that point forward, they were still doing the same old stuff under the table, just as we find in the gun registry.
It is quite shocking that the Canadian government would say one thing to the Canadian public--yes, don't worry, we're cleaning up our act--as they continue with Public Works and the gun registry and who knows where else to keep Parliament in the dark, to take taxpayers' money and then misuse taxpayers' money for their own benefits.
We will have to find out who owns 800 Place Victoria in Montreal and we will have to ask the deputy minister why, with no justification, he overrode the recommendations of his own bureaucracy to tell the minister, “Why don't they stay where they are? Don't worry, the taxpayer isn't getting hosed and they're going to pick up the tab.” But somebody is going to come out of this with a lot of money.
I also noticed in another place, one of the other buildings, the same thing--was it Centennial Towers in Ottawa? No, it was Jean Edmonds Tower in Ottawa, where we have been a tenant since 1974--the sole tenant--and we haven't bought the place. We could have bought it for a song in 1974 and yet we're still paying rent because we passed over lease purchase options.
Would you agree that the whole leasing issue and ownership and management of property in Public Works needs a serious look by the public accounts committee?