Madam Speaker, I rose in the House of Commons some days ago to pose a question to the government with respect to the Prime Minister's direct involvement in the sponsorship scandal. It is now clear, with the evidence that has come out, that the Prime Minister was intimately involved in securing contracts and other rewards for his very close friends and supporters. The evidence is just astounding. It is ongoing. I have page after page that indicates the Prime Minister was clearly implicated in this program.
When I asked that question, the public works minister stood in the House and told us that he could not answer any questions because the Gomery commission was looking into it. The last time I checked, there was no such rule indicating that the Prime Minister could not reveal his involvement in awarding contracts to his friends merely because a commission happened to be studying the question at the very same time. As a result, I submitted an application for an intervention during adjournment proceedings.
The problem is that the government engages in a degree of secrecy that is really unprecedented in Canadian history. I can give another example. Located in my constituency is a major building that would be well suited, according to former ministers in the Liberal government, to house the Department of National Defence. It is the JDS Uniphase building which is largely vacated by that company. The idea of moving DND to that location was discussed and supported by numerous members on that side of the House of Commons before the last election. It was a promise, effectively, that the Liberals made to the constituents in my area.
I asked the Minister of Public Works of the status of that very issue in committee the other day. He refused to answer what his government's plan was with respect to the future location of the Department of National Defence. This is the ongoing secrecy that we see on the other side of the floor.
I have been advocating that the JDS Uniphase building would be a perfect location to consolidate the disparate groups that form the Department of National Defence here in the National Capital Region. It is only fair that we get clear answers on where those deliberations are, and what studies have been done to ascertain the overall effectiveness of such a move both in cost and practicality, but also in security.
These are important questions that the government has failed time and time again to answer. Just as with the sponsorship scandal, Liberals have resorted to their old tactics of secrecy and a failure to be transparent with the voting and tax paying public.
I wonder if the hon. Minister of Public Works would stand and answer my question directly, or perhaps he will call on one of his subordinates to do so for him, and tell us clearly right here and now, have there been any cost effectiveness studies on the concept of moving the Department of National Defence to the JDS Uniphase building in south Nepean?