Mr. Speaker, we have just heard the Prime Minister give a defence against the repeated call for an independent inquiry. The defence was that it could take up to two years.
We are entering the 10th year since the Prime Minister made specific promises and commitments on the campaign trail in 1993. He promised to enshrine the principle of political non-interference in public decisions, ensure free access to public office holders, introduce a code of conduct for public officials, and appoint an independent ethics counsellor who would report directly to parliament.
The Prime Minister has the nerve to stand here today and introduce a warmed over, regurgitated, eight point so-called action plan to finally begin to deal with these things a decade later. Why has it taken the Prime Minister so long? Is it not because the heat is getting way too great in the Liberal kitchen these days?