Mr. Speaker, according the December 2 issue of the newspaper La voix de l'Est , the member of Parliament for Brome-Missisquoi helped a group, which includes one of his good friends, obtained a CIDA grant of close to half a million dollars for an eight-month business trip to Hungary.
We also learned that this good friend, Daniel Barbeau, was selected as one of the eight lawyers who will participate in the project by one of the minister's associates in his Bedford law firm, who sat on the selection committee.
Assuming this information is true, how, given the current budget situation, could the member for Brome-Missisquoi manage to help his friends benefit from such a sweet grant?