Mr. Speaker, this week the government showed enormous contempt for the Canadian taxpayer.
It has been the tradition in the House that the minister be called before the appropriate committee to be questioned on the money allocated for the respective departments.
In the fall ministers appear to answer questions on the supplementary estimates, which are additions to their budgets late in the fiscal year.
In the case of the Ministry of the Environment this additional expenditure amounts to $46 million. When opposition members called for the environment minister to appear before the environment committee, the government used its majority to vote down this motion.
What happened to accountability? What happened to tradition in the House? By refusing to allow the minister to appear the government showed not only contempt for the Canadian taxpayer and for the principles of an open, responsible democracy, it renounced one of the traditions of the House.
It raises a question. What is the government trying to hide in this $46 million expenditure?