Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Deputy Prime Minister.
While the Minister of Finance is saying that the country is practically on the verge of bankruptcy and that the time has come to cut government spending, the government tables supplementary estimates confirming over $2 billion in additional expenditures. At the same time, we learn that senior officials asked federal auditors in charge of the internal audit process to remember that their reports can be made public and to keep a low profile.
Are we to understand that the new approach favoured by the Liberal government is to try to muzzle government auditors to keep them from denouncing gross abuses and waste in the federal administration?