Mr. Speaker, Canadians trust their government to use CIDA funds for the poor countries of the world, not for pre-election communication work in the riding of the Minister for International Cooperation.
It is obvious that the minister tiptoed around treasury board guidelines to avoid public scrutiny. However the issue is an ethical one about who was involved, the timing, if work was actually done and what kind. It is morally wrong for political campaigners to replace public service PR staff in a minister's riding, particularly just before an election. These actions would surely benefit the minister's election campaign, not the poor countries.
This is an hypocritical abuse of public funds by a minister whose role is to promote good governance in poor countries, which is why I am calling for an immediate investigation by the ethics counsellor and for her immediate resignation.