Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Bains is accountable for his time in office. He's still accountable because he is a member of the Privy Council and, therefore, is forever bound by these rules.
Four-hundred million dollars is a lot of money. It may not seem like a lot of money to some of the members of the governing party, but I tell you what, Mr. Chair. When there are record numbers at food banks, carbon taxes, record inflation and inflating grocery prices, people in my constituency of Miramichi—Grand Lake who call me on a daily basis, choosing between medications and groceries, sometimes fuel and groceries, and mortgage rates, interest rates and rents going up, all of these problems are on the watch of the current government.
You know, I remember in the 1990s—I was in high school—when Jean Chrétien was a former prime minister. I remember hearing so much about the sponsorship scandal. The only reason I bring it up today is that, for its time, it was quite a thing. It upset Canadians, very clearly, but the interesting thing is that, today, this scandal in particular is eight times larger than the sponsorship scandal. This is a massive scandal. It's a massive misuse of public funds, $400 million, for which there was no value achieved.
The reason we want this sent back to the House, with the production of documents, and the reason we want this privilege to pass is that our questions were not answered. The questions of other members from other parties were not answered. When the questions are not answered by the individuals who have those answers, it is our privilege to get those answers for the public of this country. It's deeply disappointing that the Liberal members are not supporting this privilege motion.