Madam Speaker, my colleague is absolutely right. We came here as rookie MPs. I know we worked together on committees and so on.
People get their eyes opened in a big hurry when they get here. This is the big leagues, and there are big mistakes made too, no doubt about it. However, it is not even so much that is allowed to go on, it is the cover-up that goes along with it. Somehow the Liberals seem to think that this is okay, that they can do this type of thing and get away with it. It is just $10,000.
When the former prime minister was first called on the carpet over this sponsorship fiasco, he said “A few million dollars went missing, so what?”. Somebody worked their heart and soul out to send those tax dollars in, to have them literally blown off by the Prime Minister and his front bench.
We sit here in question period day after day going after these guys looking for answers. They want to be open and transparent, but there are no answers. We look at all those Quebec folks who have had their lips zipped shut. They are glued to their chairs. They are not allowed to stand up and speak. They sit there like kids who have not done their homework, with their heads down hoping they will not be asked. It is a serious error of omission in not coming forward.
We have seen letters from folks in Quebec who were members of the Liberal Party, who pointed this out and said to the finance minister, who controlled all the ridings in there, that he had to do something and that they would be killed on this issue. Turns out they are right.