Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to the member's speech, which was a long tome heavy on political rhetoric. I think it would be wise for the people who are watching today to deal with the facts.
One particular issue which I know is of interest to all members is that of crown corporations. Historically, crown corporations were not under the watchful gaze of the Auditor General. As arm's-length institutions they were not subject to the type of comptroller and audit oversight that was necessary.
The President of the Treasury Board has instituted 31 changes to radically change the type of auditing and public oversight of crown corporations. For example, crown corporations are now subject to very significant access to information provisions. Very important, they are under the watchful gaze and power of the Auditor General, who can go in and look at the books, not only for the public, but also for the government and the House.
Another big section that has been dealt with in terms of improving accountability to the taxpayer and ensuring that we get the best bang for the public's money is the comptroller system. The Prime Minister introduced a comptroller system to make sure that all departments were under a comptroller system so that the Canadian public and we as a government would know where the hard-earned money of the Canadian people is going and to make sure that the things we want to get done on behalf of the Canadian public get done. That oversight mechanism is there.
The Minister of National Revenue with his counterparts has put together an expenditure review system. It forces every single minister and department to ensure that every year the lowest 5% of the moneys being spent is removed and reallocated to higher priorities. In other words, it is an ongoing revision of the workings of a minister's department to make sure that those areas that are least productive will be driven into more productive areas for the Canadian taxpayer.
Does the member not approve and applaud the government's interventions and initiatives to improve and dramatically revamp the way in which crown corporations are dealt with? Does he not strongly approve of the new auditing procedures that we have put in place under the watchful eye of the Auditor General?