Mr. Speaker, APEC is an issue that is not going to go away for this Prime Minister or for this government.
Just as Watergate was not about a break-in, the APEC inquiry is not about pepper spray. It is about freedom of expression. It is about political interference from the Prime Minister giving direction to Canada's national police force to suppress protesters' freedom of expression.
The Prime Minister is muddifying his involvement by using the public complaints commission process.
Canadians will spend millions and millions of dollars, still ending up at a blind wall. With over $1.4 million already blown away and hundreds of witnesses to hear, they have only heard four.
The bill is already so high because the solicitor general and justice minister have agreed to protect the Prime Minister at a rate of $2,000 an hour for lawyers' fees. Commissioner Ted Hughes is trying to sort out the lawyer funding mess.
As the APEC public complaints commission process lurches forward, even under the astute guidance of Ted Hughes, I say again that we have the right driver in the wrong vehicle.
When is this Prime Minister finally going to come clean?