Three minutes. Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. It is a far cry from the 20 minutes I should have had.
It is said and it is true that a government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. That ideal is what pervades the whole issue of patronage in this country, in particular Bill C-49.
When we are talking about patronage, whether we are amending a bill or adjusting a bill or adding to a bill in this House we have to question whether the bill is even needed. Most people in my riding of Fraser Valley West would suggest that the issue of patronage is crude, embarrassing, insulting and very Liberal.
I have dealt in Atlantic Canada with a number of issues involving patronage. Today in question period I asked about it. It is not necessarily an appointment but we will get to that maybe tomorrow in question period. When we see a government like this that gives out $87 million and in return from a company like Bombardier gets $170,000 put into its coffers, we have to wonder exactly what kind of democracy we are in today.
I wonder how many people from where I come from are aware that this government in fact hands out their money to corporations and in return for that handout gets a share of that money back to its party in order to run elections.