Mr. Speaker, welcome to the Bay Street golden trough Olympics where Liberal, Tory and Alliance parties fiercely compete for corporate gold.
Bay Street dinners have seen Tories charge $500 a plate, the Liberals $1,000 and the Alliance's Tom Long $5,000 a person for a picnic in the Muskokas. However this year's winner of the golden trough award is the so-called grassroots Canadian Alliance for organizing a $25,000 a table corporate fundraiser in Toronto.
Twenty-five thousand dollars is the yearly income of an average working family in my riding. Twenty-five thousand dollars is more than two years salary for a person working at minimum wage in the province of Alberta.
This is the Alliance's price for democracy. This is its price for access to its corporate agenda. This is a party where Bay Street is now paying the piper and a party where Bay Street will call the tune.