Mr. Speaker, yesterday on Radio-Canada we heard confirmation of the Auditor General's report on the disastrous condition of the Library and Archives. We learned that certain irreplaceable documents, including the originals of the memoirs of Champlain, the founder of Quebec, are deteriorating beyond repair because of a shortage of funds. What a fiasco in an area of federal jurisdiction.
Instead of spending millions in the sponsorship scandal, how could the government not have managed to find the millions necessary to ensure the conservation of priceless documents even though it is the one responsible for them?