Madam Speaker, the member has a right to raise those points but I would like the opportunity to respond.
The Auditor General provides a report card from time to time on certain selected issues, not the entire government at any point in time. I was referring to report cards at each level of government because we are all in the same boat. We are all trying to build a country. It is called nation building.
The member mentioned four or five items that he would like me to address. Let me start with the gun registry.
Why is it that over 90% of the applications to register guns were incomplete? Why is it that human beings had to be hired to process all of those applications, which should have been done by computers? It was a protest organized by gun lobbyists. Why was it that the website for the gun registry was tied up by the National Rifle Association of America?
There was a significant protest against the registration of guns. As a member of Parliament and a backbencher, I consulted with my constituents. Over 75% of the people in my community said that they wanted guns to be registered. It was like the riots in Los Angeles where they went ahead and trashed their own communities. What is the point of sabotaging the system? It cost a lot of money.
With regard to the so-called $1 billion boondoggle, the member knows that the Auditor General reported on that and, after everything was said and done, the net loss to the Government of Canada was less than $100,000, not $1 billion.
The Gomery commission is still going on. The member said that it has cost $100 billion. I do not know where the member got his numbers but the entire sponsorship program was $250 million. How can we have a $100 billion loss. Why does the member not get his facts straight?
Justice Gomery is looking at the issue. Some people have already been charged. It is a very serious matter. Justice Gomery has the tools to get to the bottom of this thing and get all of the information. He will report. We are committed to totally cooperating with the royal commission's findings. If there are any allegations of wrongdoing, charges will be laid. If moneys are to be recovered, they will be recovered. If changes are to be made in our programs, they will be made. That is responsible government. However we will let Justice Gomery come forward with his report when he is done doing the job that he should do.
With regard to aboriginals, I cannot argue with the member. If we have a problem in other areas of Canada, the problem in aboriginal communities is always ten times worse. Whether it be abuse, or substance abuse, or fetal alcohol syndrome or economic well-being, our aboriginal communities need our support and our help.
The EI fund was the last point the member raised. There is a notional surplus. The member knows that under the Mulroney government there was a $12 billion deficit in the notional EI fund. It was a real fund at the time though being funded by the Government of Canada. The Auditor General said that the government was running a deficit on the EI program and that was a real cost of running government. The Auditor General said that we now had to include and report that within the accounts of the Government of Canada. What a shame.
Since 1993, not only did we clear up the $42 billion deficit that we inherited from the Conservative government, but we brought in fiscal responsibility. There have been surpluses. This country has not been in a recession since the government was taken over by the Liberals in 1993. Based on the requirements of the Auditor General, in one of her reports that the member is waving, the moneys must be included there. EI premiums have been reduced year after year, right down from $3.20 every year for ten years. That again is responsible government.