Mr. Speaker, I am surprised at the reference to meddling in the audit procedure. It was in fact the deputy minister of public works who on his own initiative launched an internal audit in the year 2000 that exposed and revealed the difficulties in the sponsorship program. It was the Auditor General of Canada, a very independent officer of parliament, who said that the work of the internal audit department of public works was in fact courageous and excellent.
In the House of Commons on June 20th, 2002. See this statement in context.