Mr. Speaker, the ethics counsellor will make a report to the House of Commons once a year but there is a reality. The only person responsible to the nation for the ministers cannot be anybody but the Prime Minister of Canada.
I want to tell the hon. member that I will never run away from my responsibilities. I am responsible for the integrity of the cabinet and I will take all the steps necessary to make sure that there is integrity.
All of us have a problem. We have to make sure that ministers can at the same time respect the commitment they have made at the time of their election to represent their constituents well while they are ministers. This is the problem we are debating at this time.
I want to have the views of members of Parliament on this issue. We cannot deny the people living in the riding of a minister adequate representation here in Ottawa as these ministers promised when they sought their support at the time of the election.