Mr. Speaker, when the budget was introduced in December the $2 billion strategic infrastructure fund was to be administered by an arm's length foundation. However when the legislation was introduced this week, surprise, a Liberal cabinet minister will get to decide where the money goes. Yesterday the Prime Minister said this change occurred because he believed that decisions about the fund should be made by people who report directly to parliament.
If this is the case, perhaps the government could explain why it rejected a transport committee report recommendation that a secretary of state for transportation security be created to be responsible for aviation security and report directly to parliament. Instead the government created an arm's length authority to administer the $2.2 billion air travellers' security fund.
Why the inconsistency? Could it be that the Liberals have not quite figured out how to use the air travellers' security fund for patronage purposes?