Mr. Speaker, in August 2000, the internal audit report of Public Works Canada revealed irregularities in the federal government's sponsorship program. This resulted, close to two years ago, in a meeting between the manager of the sponsorship program and the presidents of Groupaction, Everest, Coffin Communications and Gosselin Relations Publiques.
How can the Deputy Prime Minister justify that the person responsible for the program chose, after being informed of these irregularities in the sponsorship program, to have a meeting with those who were directly involved, those who fully benefited, so much so in fact that a number of them are the object of a police investigation as we speak?