Mr. Speaker, when I was elected in 1993 someone asked me the question “What can politicians do to clean up their image?” I said “That is easy. Do not lie, do not cheat, do not steal, and do not pay off your friends with taxpayers' dollars”.
In the last nine years I have watched scandal after scandal follow the Liberal government, from Shawinigan golf courses to HRDC waste to the fixing of procurement contracts to the paying of fundraisers with taxpayers' dollars.
If government members ever get serious about cleaning up the image of politicians, I say again “Do not lie, do not cheat, do not steal, and do not pay off your friends with taxpayers' dollars”. If they want a memento of this I will frame it and send it to each and every one of them.