Mr. Speaker, in the House on Friday the Deputy Prime Minister admitted that Howard Wilson, the government's much touted ethics watchdog, has no teeth and has been relegated to a very minor role on ethical questions.
"If there are questions about the ethics of the government, the ultimate arbiter of those questions is not a bureaucrat, it is the Prime Minister". Canadians will take little comfort in that revelation, given the government's mishandling of the Canadian heritage minister's unethical behaviour.
Since section 23 of the federal conflict of interest code has been violated by the heritage minister without reprimand or penalty, and since the Prime Minister is now the de facto ethics commissioner, will the Prime Minister tell us what parts of the code he is prepared to uphold and how he intends to enforce it?