Mr. Speaker, I find it rather symbolic that, at the end of this debate, it is the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources Development who defends the department, not the present minister, who neglected to warn the public of this scandal. Although she had been aware since August 1999, she waited until January 2000 to inform us. I find it symbolic as well that it is not the Minister for International Trade who answers questions, while he is the one responsible for all of this scandal.
Does the parliamentary secretary not find it astounding that, when the Minister of Human Resources Development started talking about the active files for which no money is recoverable, she spoke of those containing no problem? She puts all the files under RCMP investigation in the inactive files.
Is the federal government, in the end, not primarily responsible for the doubt cast on the job creation programs through its partisan management of public funds?