Mr. Speaker, this week, parliamentarians were invited to attend a reception organized in honour of the Council for Canadian Unity.
Bloc Quebecois members declined the invitation and for good reason, since we condemn the fact that, since 1995, the federal government has spent over half a billion dollars provided by taxpayers on propaganda and often partisan activities.
Just as unacceptable is the fact that the council was not held accountable to the public for the some $35 million in taxpayers' money that it received during the same period.
Worse still, just before the end of the last financial year, the government hurriedly increased the budget of the Canada Information Office by close to $80 million over a three year period, an annual increase of close to 135%.
This is why we declined to attend. The Bloc Quebecois cannot condone the fact that $500 million in taxpayers' money was used to fund propaganda activities, when sectors as critical as education, health and regional development, to name but a few, need a significant increase in the federal government's transfers to the provinces.