Mr. Speaker, with regard to the sponsorship scandal, the minister refuses to answer under the pretext that he has referred the investigation to the RCMP. Modes Conili, Confections St-Élie, Groupaction, Communication Coffin, Lafleur Communications and eight other files were referred to the RCMP, some of them as many as three years ago now, and that was the last we heard of them.
With regard to the sponsorship scandal, is the government not using the formula that has served it so well: refer the case to the RCMP so that it will never be heard of again?