Furthermore, Madam Chairman, the hon. member for Beauséjour—Petitcodiac addressed decentralization, and I agree with him. Sponsorships were really concentrated.
The justice minister told the House earlier this week that ministers should play a more active role and get involved in the selection of government contractors.
Another member thinks that calls for tenders are cumbersome, that they tie up the system, that they are a real bother and totally ineffective. I would just like to point out to him that democracy comes at a high cost. Ignoring democratic principles does save us much money. You can ask every dictator on this planet. They do not bother with such things. But where there is no democracy, people are facing other problems.
Does the minister agree with the remarks of the justice minister, whose chief of staff, incidentally, is a former vice-president of Groupe Everest? If the minister realizes that this is a network, and that the immigration minister spent several nights at the condo of the president of Groupe Everest over a period of a month and a half—I understand that the Prime Minister is still working on clarifying the eight points to be announced soon—should the minister not feel bound by the choices made by other ministers?
When the justice minister wants to launch a $500,000 advertising campaign, should the need for such advertising not be demonstrated to him? What purpose will it serve? Is it really required? After all, he is the Minister of Public Works and Government Services; it is not the other way around.