Mr. Speaker, standing to set the record straight is a good try. I understand that the member gets frustrated, but I think his constituents know that he is a tireless worker on their behalf. They probably also know that he believes in HRD funding. I know he has supported the minister time and time again. I disagree with him on that, but I certainly respect his right to do so. I want to set the record straight on that.
I was talking about the Senate, but I think I should go on to something else because I am upsetting the people on the other side.
I want to move on, Mr. Speaker, because my time is short. I want to talk for a few minutes about March madness, fiscal year end spending, which I mentioned before I was interrupted.
The Canadian Alliance Party has analyzed an access to information request received from Public Works and Government Services Canada, listing all grant and contribution spending over four fiscal years by all departments and agencies of the federal government. Spending by 30 departments and agencies is listed over the period April 1 to March 31 for the years 1996-97 to 1999-00. The month of March 2000 was not available at the time of request.
Year end spending was an issue addressed by the disastrous program integrity internal audit of human resources development. It noted that HRD money was spent to avoid losing it at the end of each fiscal year. In other words, there was x amount of money in the budget and if March 1 arrived before a department spent it all, the department would look for ways to spend the money to avoid it being taken away at the end of March.