My colleague says cynicism and he is quite right. That is what bothers me.
We have leadership in our country which is sending the wrong message, which is showing a bad example to Canadians. I think that Canadians deserve better. I think that Canadians deserve a government which will use due diligence in managing taxpayers' money, which will respect the fact that its money comes from ordinary Canadians who are working day in and day out to raise families and to provide not only for their families but for themselves and their communities. I think that Canadians deserve to have a government which recognizes that there are people who cannot look after themselves, who need assistance, but that assistance is given on merit and not for political reasons. Canadians deserve to have a government which recognizes that politics should be separate from government; that government, when it is spending taxpayers' money, should not be making decisions based on raising election funds or gathering votes. It should be a government which spends taxpayers' money to provide programs for Canadians, programs and funds based on merit and merit only.
There may be a reason for some of these programs, but there is never a reason for bad management. There is never a reason for making decisions based on politics rather than merit. There is never a reason for having one set of rules for the minister and a different set of rules for everybody else. There is never a reason for covering up what actually happened. That is not what Canadians deserve.
Canadians deserve a government that will give the truth as it is, not as the government sees it. Canadians deserve a government that will do the right thing for the right reasons. They do not deserve a government that will hide behind the back of the Prime Minister or the skirts of the minister of HRDC. They deserve a government which will face the responsibility that was given to it by the voters of Canada to govern with integrity. Canadians deserve nothing less. Unfortunately they do not have that.