Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his questions. He actually made an interesting point. He said that I was standing here defending what he called a public relations disaster. I think that is what it is, actually. It is a PR disaster. We have not been able to get the message out because of the hysteria and misrepresentation by members in the opposition and frankly in the media. How do we defend a headline that says a billion dollars is lost when in fact it is not.
There is an old axiom in politics that says when one is trying to defend something one is losing. I understand that. It is very much public relations, and the public happens to be the voters and citizens of the country. The reason I stand here and say what I say is that it is our job and responsibility to get the facts out. It is not just the one-sided nonsensical arguments put forward by the opposition. There are a government position, an explanation and an action plan put in place.
I also tell the member in relationship to his other question that the minister informed the House on February 7, as reported in Hansard that:
Of the 250 projects across Canada that qualified for transitional jobs fund money where the unemployment levels were less than 12%...half of them were in opposition ridings.
I am sorry if the member has not been able to somehow persuade or have some influence, but I would suggest that he should keep trying. He should get himself someone in the ministry with whom he can deal and work. If his riding needs these funds, I want the member who I think is a very caring and socially well balanced conscientious member to know that the danger we are facing with all this stuff is that there will be no transitional jobs funds for anyone in the country, whether in his riding or mine. They will kill this program as sure as I am standing here through the misrepresentation and misleading hysteria that is going on.
I want Canadians to know that government accepts the responsibility to clean this up. The government accepts the fact that some mistakes have been made and it will be cleaned up by the minister.