Mr. Speaker, the government did not announce the existence of that fund, but it announced its abolition. This is rather strange.
The Prime Minister is trying to put the blame on Mr. Mulroney regarding the creation of this fund. However, at the Privy Council, the Prime Minister's own department, they recognize that the conditions governing the use of this secret fund, the conditions that led to the worst abuse, were set in 1996, and it is also in 1996 that the sponsorship scandal began.
Who was finance minister in 1996? It was the Prime Minister. Under these circumstances, how can he claim that he did not know?