Mr. Speaker, since May of last year we have frozen all activity to stop the abuses. We terminated the use of private sector middlemen. We stopped doing any business with certain firms in question. We set up financial holdbacks and launched money recovery proceedings. We toughened the program rules and procedures. We reduced its budget. We conducted extensive transparent internal inquiries. Disciplinary proceedings are underway. All legal issues have been referred to the RCMP. We called in the Auditor General; in fact we expanded her mandate to make sure that the job could be done right.
In the House of Commons on September 15th, 2003. See this statement in context.