A member over there asks what are friends for. Can they not see what it is doing to national unity, for example?
Imagine the Liberals saying to members of the Bloc Quebecois that they have 2,225 appointments to make, that some of them are very technical and require a good deal of expertise, but the crowning criteria for getting the job will be one's pedigree, not necessarily as a Quebecer but as a Liberal. When the BQ members go home imagine what they will do with that. They will say here is the list of appointments.
It is in the latest edition of the Hill Times , the paper from Parliament Hill, for members' information. I am sure they have seen it. There is now a Conservative who is tracking all the appointments. She has a list of about 200 names of people who are long time paid up Liberal members. I am sure Bloc members take that newspaper and say here is the latest dollop of appointments.
They rip that page out and back they go to Quebec saying: "This is what your tax dollars are going for. Your tax dollars are going to supply Liberals with jobs". If you were a voter in Quebec-listen up because when you are a voter in British Columbia the reaction is somewhat the same-you would say: "I thought these were appointments based on merit. I thought this person who was appointed was put there because they are the best person for the job".
I thought that someone who runs Canada Post would have extensive experience in the delivery of mail or delivery services. But who is the head of Canada Post but the former minister of foreign affairs. How did he get that job? Did he fill out the meritorious "I am the best qualified for Canada Post"? No, of course not. He just said: "I have a long pedigree of service to the Liberal Party. What I need is a job within the federal civil service based on my pedigree as a Liberal".
Why was there a furore over the appointment of our current Governor General? The Governor General plays a good role in our community. He lends some stability, some long term historic reference and so on. The problem was that the job was given because of his extensive Liberal pedigree: "I have a long, long list of things I have done for the Prime Minister. I raised money for the Prime Minister. I was part of his campaign for the Liberal Party leadership. I was his buddy". His buddy is the one who gets appointed.