Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I take the opposite point of view. I know speeches are valuable, and I listened to that speech in the House. When I heard later that the writing of that speech cost that much money, I just wonder what value we did get. What was the cost per page? It seems like a very significant cost to have someone write a speech.
I know we have speakers in this country who come and deliver speeches at great conventions and they're paid $50,000 or $100,000. I know certainly the government has great support for the presenter, the so-called minister. To think it cost that much to write him a speech seems extraordinary.
The fact that it was done, Mr. Williams, without any tendering process certainly shows that one of the senior ministers in our government is not able to follow the accountability and the high standard that the present government has for how it deals with business.