Mr. Chairman, like my colleagues from the other parties, I would like to begin by welcoming the new minister to his new challenging task. We all have a great deal of hope and optimism that some of the many problems we have been dealing with will finally be dealt with properly.
I would like to compliment the minister for what I see as a very good first week in three different senses. First, for having frozen all payments on the sponsorship contracts, at least until a proper investigation can take place. That was the right thing to do and I believe the hon. minister did it within 48 hours.
Second, I approve that more things are being referred to the RCMP as they come forward, to expand the things that we are putting in front of the RCMP to look for criminal actions.
The third and final thing that I will praise the minister for, and then we will revert to customary estimates debate, is he volunteered to consider repatriating this work within the public sector. I am very glad that it came from the minister.
By turning a comment into a question, I would ask the minister to consider this first. There are more things here than just the cost factor and the cost benefits. There are more and better reasons perhaps for bringing this work back into the public sector than just the cost savings. I would argue that even if it costs more to deliver it through the public sector, we could do away with what I call the terrible graft corruption.
The evidence that the auditor general has unearthed and the body of evidence the RCMP is dealing with now would indicate that this set of contractors have soiled their own nests to such a degree that the government should not trust the communications sector with this important work.
What would the minister need to hear in terms of arguments to convince him that the right thing would be to take that work away from the private sector and bring it back into the public sector and under the scrutiny of the public accounts committee and the oversight of parliament?