Mr. Speaker, for the record, the Conservative Party and I support ACOA and the good work that ACOA has done.
Unfortunately, the actions of the previous minister tarnish that agency. In fact, an article ran in the Montreal Gazette at about the same time as the article that I quoted from the Halifax Herald . The article in the Montreal Gazette states, “Atlantic agency is a useless boondoggle”.
That is what happens when ministers take advantage, overstep their authority and monopolize the funding for their own riding. It simply is not right.
We believe in funding and we believe in fair funding. We believe in funding for all the ridings in Newfoundland, not just one riding.
What we are asking for is a thorough public audit so we know. Let us not leave it just to the minister and the agency and pretend that everything is okay. We want to know how this type of behaviour on behalf of a minister is allowed to happen without any consequences.