Madam Speaker, from what my colleague says, a person would think Human Resources Development Canada was a model department.
Among the 10,000 sheets of paper we are supposed to have been sent, we asked for an invoice from Placeteco justifying the spending of $1.2 million. The minister herself came to the committee to tell us everything is fine in the active files. But she said nothing about the inactive ones where it is not. We have asked repeatedly for records on Conili Star and Placeteco.
I will tell you why the Liberal majority does not want to change the rules of the game. In the next election, they will be able to take advantage of the same system they did the last time. That is the only reason they are refusing to hold an independent public inquiry.
They know full well that some of the funds were used for partisan purposes, particularly in the time of the predecessor of the present minister, who is now Minister for International Trade. He systematically put the funding program at the service of the Liberal Party of Canada.
Does the main responsibility for the poor image of the job creation projects not lie with the present Minister of Human Resources Development, who is herself in the process of taking away all credibility from programs which could be credible undertakings? Her behaviour is stripping them of all credibility.
I wish to ask the hon. member, who sat on the standing HRD committee, what he thinks of the attitude of a minister who, two hours after the release of a report, calls a scrum just to announce “I haven't read the report. I am not familiar with the recommendation for dismantling”.
The minister is here, and the hon. member is here. Might we have his opinion on the dismantling of the department? He signed the report. What are his thoughts on the minister's response?