Mr. Speaker, I think the government House leader protests a little too much. We have a rule in the House that when questions are asked they are answered in 45 days, and the government agrees to that.
We are talking here about grants, loans and contracts. The biggest scandals we have had from the government over the last few months have been about grants, loans and contracts. We all know, those of us who have been in more than one election, that the party in power, when it goes into the election, has a list ready for its members with all the grants, loans and contracts that have gone to their riding.
We also know that the government is not short of computers. I cannot believe and I do not think there is a Canadian who believes that the government cannot give us a list of the grants, loans and contracts, no matter whether it was last year, two years ago or five years ago. It is scandalous what the government is trying to hide. It is shameful that it would ask you, Mr. Speaker, to get involved in something that is a totally partisan issue.
The government House leader says that the government is not required to keep records by constituents. All of us in the House at some time or another have received from different departments lists of grants and whatever in our ridings. We ask for them and we get them by constituency. If the government does not do it, it should do it. It does it for its own members come election time.
I say again, what does the government have to hide? I hope, Mr. Speaker, you will look behind what it is trying to hide so we can get to the bottom of this. The the taxpayers of Canada have a right to know every grant, loan and contract in every constituency in the country.
We are not talking about a lot of money here. Every government department has more computers than they need. Did they not have a couple of hundred million computers stored somewhere that were never used? Maybe the government could put them to use in getting this information.
I would say that when it comes to grants, loans and contracts we are willing to work with the government House leader. Maybe he needs a few more days than 45 because everybody had a six week break. Let us find a date to get answers to those questions. We will not let them go and we will not let the government hide behind some phoney rule that it thinks it has made up somewhere.