Madam Chairman, first, I take the hon. gentleman's point about the apparent conflict sometimes between control issues on one side and service issues on the other side. Obviously our objective here is to provide the very best possible service to Canadians. We want to do that in a timely way, but we also need to make absolutely sure that the public interest and the public trust are being respected.
As we have discussed quite amply this evening, in relation to some aspects of one particular program within Communications Canada there have been some problems in years gone by. Those problems have quite rightly raised public concerns and we are now in the process of addressing those public concerns, one of the steps being the freeze that I applied to any future activity as of last Monday.
I recognize that there are community groups and organizations across the country that would have been anticipating certain funding support, which is now being held up. That may well be causing them some local problems. I am very sensitive to that. I will try to arrive at any conclusions I can with respect to the moratorium as rapidly as possible to make sure that if there are difficulties caused at a local level they are kept to a minimum.
However, at the same time I want to be able to assure the general public that there is that level of transparency, accountability and value for taxpayers' money that Canadians have every right to expect. It is a tough balancing act in terms of delivering on expectations but doing so in a way that respects the public trust. I will try to come out with the right balance at the end of the day in being sensitive to all the requirements that are there.
In terms of northern gas, there is not an immediate direct and obvious role that the Department of Public Works and Government Services would play, except in terms of supporting other departments. Obviously in terms of northern gas there will be important roles to be played by the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, the Department of Natural Resources, the Department of Human Resources Development and a range of other departments. My department would naturally be called upon from time to time to provide support services to them. I want to assure the hon. member that whenever we are called upon to deliver on behalf of other government departments we will do our very best to respond promptly.