Mr. Speaker, indeed it was last spring the hon. member put those questions. It was on that occasion that I provided the response and the response remains the same. The Department of Justice, like all departments of government, pursues a policy of open and competitive bidding for all work awarded by contract.
I can tell the hon. member that no matter how the statistics might be used for present partisan purposes, the results and the advantages of the research and the work done at the Department of Justice are shared equally by all Canadians.