Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
With the greatest of respect to Ms. Khalid, my colleague opposite, who repeatedly referenced going down rabbit holes, the only member going down rabbit holes is Ms. Khalid. For 10 or 15 minutes she talked about everything under the sun other than the motion at hand. I think she even went so far as to say that she disagreed with the findings of the Auditor General with respect to the misuse of taxpayer dollars, the $390 million that went out the door improperly, including the $330 million funnelled directly into companies with which SDTC board members have contribution agreements.
Ms. Khalid complains that the green-tech sector is being impacted as a result of the freezing of funds. Well, those funds were frozen because of Liberal corruption. Respectfully, she should look at the record of her government. It was her government and her government's corruption that led to the freezing of funds once the minister got caught turning a blind eye to all the corruption that was taking place at SDTC.
What arrogance and utter disrespect for Canadian taxpayers to say that in the face of 186 conflicts of interest, in the face of $400 million that went improperly out the door, it's somehow too much to ask for some basic transparency on the part of the minister, who said that he was going to see, during this transition, that there would be enhanced oversight and monitoring.
What is that enhanced oversight and monitoring? The minister hasn't said. We don't know. We need to find out. Is there in fact enhanced oversight and monitoring, or are those just words from the minister that haven't been followed through in the way of action? Is it too much to ask, when the minister says his department is resuming funding, with funding resumed through so-called reinforced contribution agreements, for us to see exactly what those contribution agreements look like?
The minister issued this release on June 4 saying that he was taking action and that we'd have more oversight, more monitoring and reinforced contribution agreements that would involve taxpayer money going out the door. After this $400-million colossal web of Liberal corruption, as we get to the bottom of what the heck is going on, I don't think it's too much to ask to see what those agreements look like or to see what follow-through has actually been done as the government proceeds to transfer over this green slush fund to the National Research Council.
We know that the minister hasn't even bothered to pick up the phone or sit down with the president of the National Research Council. That's how much interest this minister has. He, time and time again, has been AWOL on the job, I guess as he works to succeed the captain of the Titanic, the Prime Minister, to become the Liberal leader—but that's a whole other issue.
In the face of all that, Ms. Khalid says that this motion is about killing the green-tech sector. It has nothing to do with that. It has to do with providing accountability and transparency, which have been completely lacking, notwithstanding the minister saying on June 4 that he's taking action.
What action has the minister taken? We need to find out.
