Mr. Speaker, I would like the member to address an article which appeared in the paper yesterday:
Not long after the present Liberal regime came to power promising a new era of high ethical standards in government, the auditor general of the day conducted a revealing survey of public service morality. It was not a pretty picture. Fully 22% of public servants surveyed, for instance, thought it would be perfectly appropriate to hand out a $50,000 government contract to someone at the request of a superior or a minister [or a member of the House].... All of this led the auditor general to issue a stern message to the nation's political leaders. “Even the best codes of conduct or conflict of interest guidelines could not protect Canadians from a government that was not fundamentally honest”.
I am wondering if the member can provide any insight from his side of the House as to why it has taken so long for us to get so little that was promised in the 1993 red book. A truly independent ethics commissioner was promised away back then.
The member will recall that we put that very motion. We took it right out of the red book, put it in a motion to the House and the Liberal government turned around and voted against it. Now we have an independent ethics commissioner in the bill that really is not truly independent as it was envisioned in the 1993 red book.