Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. friend from the NDP for his excellent question. There is a great deal of apathy and cynicism among the public today. We can see on the basis of what has been brought to the floor of the House with the HRDC scandal that it is to some extent, unfortunately, justified.
However, within the context of the problem we have today there is hope, hope that we as members of the opposition, and I hope hon. members of the government, can fix the problem. If we fix the problem, then perhaps we can start to rebuild the trust that elected officials should have with members of the public, trust that this institution and parliament should have but do not with the public. We need to mend those bridges by doing the right thing.
The member mentioned his riding. There are farmers. There is the aboriginal issue. There is ACOA. There is the western economic diversification fund, and on and on it goes where moneys are used by the government of the day to pay off friends and to win support for the next election. It has little or nothing to do with helping the poorest of the poor or those people in need of jobs. If it were, then we would all be in agreement, and the ministers on the other side know that.