Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest to the speech made by my colleague opposite.
The concern for the opposition, and the member will certainly understand that, is that all these agencies that have multiplied under the Liberals, whether it be Nav Canada, Canada Post Corporation or Canada Housing and Mortgage Corporation, are all independently managed. There are accountable to the House only once a year when they table their financial statement, and if it is even ever so slightly positive, there are no questions asked. If there were no losses, there were no problems.
However, if the taxpayers want a precise answer to a particular question, the minister washes his hands of everything and says he cannot do anything because it is an agency. That is what all the opposition parties are speaking out against in the House, namely the fact that the government is making sure that it does not have to answer our questions from now on.
I want to ask the member if he does not see the risk that this kind of agency could become a patronage haven, as was unfortunately the case with Canada Post Corporation, for example. Are these agencies required to go to the lowest bidder when awarding a contract or do they just go down the list of Liberal Party contributors?
Does the member not see the danger in taking assets out of the hands of regular public servants to have them managed by friends of the government? We want to hear what he has to say on that particular point and nothing else.