Yes, it was the current Prime Minister who at the time was the finance minister and who in fact should have known where the money was going and should have been following the money.
A newsletter put out by the President of the Treasury Board who, not too long ago, said to his constituents that every line of every government department is scrutinized stated:
As Treasury Board members, we are responsible to know not only where the money is being spent, but also why it is being spent.
Can the Liberals still look us straight in the face and say that the present Prime Minister, the then finance minister, did not know anything? They are trying to tell us that everything is okay now. They are act tough with all this feigned indignation and say they will get to the bottom of this.
However, the same firms that conspired with the Prime Minister to keep polling information out of public view and were previously in his transition team are still playing a key role in the Prime Minister's Office and even got to vet new ministerial staff appointments.
We are dealing with that systemic problem of these corporate ties and people revolving in and out of the Prime Minister's Office. That is the issue we must get our heads around. That is what we must do.
Let me conclude by reading from a constituent's e-mail to me that reflects the concerns of Canadians about what is going on in this place, what is wrong with both Liberal and Conservative governments, their whole connection with the corporate world, and the kind of games they play to get money back into the pockets of their friends and supporters. The constituent writes:
When a party in power stays too long, the occupants appropriate themselves to be gods--obnoxious gods. They turn arrogant, insensitive and appallingly abusive. Arrogance is a powerful argument why the sitting government must not be granted repeat endorsement by the electorate in the coming election.
The same goes for the Conservatives who were taught a lesson when they went down this path.
Let us now take the time to learn from the errors of the past, whether we are talking about the present Liberals or the past Conservatives, to put an end to a government that is riddled with scandal and get on to true, ethical government for this country.