Mr. Speaker, I support the amendment to the amendment to Motion No. 1 moved by the hon. member for Québec-Est, to delete the words "where possible" and here is why.
First, Bill C-52 provides the government with the opportunity to amalgamate Public Works Canada, Supply and Services Canada and the Translation Service. It appears to us that, in the context of a bill, "where possible" is little more than idle talk, as the hon. member for Québec-Est indicated. Such words also leave room for interpretation and favouritism.
At the same time, we could expect -I hope it will not be the case under this government as it was under the previous one- that this will encourage the granting of contracts to friends of the regime and leave the door wide open for lobbyists. It is only natural for lobbyists who attend luncheons at $1,000 a plate organized by the federal government to be tempted to come and knock on the doors of Liberal members to get contracts. It has been done before the Liberals came to power and I would hope that, in a spirit of openness and transparency, the member will not object to seeing things change.
Quoting the red book, the Liberal government talked about transparency during the campaign. There have been several books and papers since, of course. We have gone from red book to green paper, from green to purple, from purple to orange, from orange to grey and we certainly hope that all these will not result in a black paper.
So, in a spirit of transparency and goodwill in administering public assets, you, the Liberal government, hold a majority of seats. If ridicule kills, that is why the Conservative government no longer exists. And if you continue to be wasteful with respect to contracting-out and privatization, your days are numbered, gentlemen.