Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate a group of constituents in my riding of Nanaimo-Cowichan who are doing valuable work on behalf of taxpayers.
Several months ago I followed the lead of my colleague from North Vancouver by inviting interested citizens to get involved in the Canada Employment Centre grant process. Since that time this committee has been hard at work reviewing grants to determine if tax dollars were being spent wisely. This practice has resulted in constituents having direct input into the process instead of having the MP simply rubber stamp these applications, as is usually the case according to a senior official at human resources development.
Based on the positive results from this committee, I am now looking to establish other working groups at the constituency level to get involved in everything from agriculture to transportation.
This committee and others like it should serve as an example to all MPs as to the value of getting constituents involved in the democratic process.