Mr. Speaker, there is a pessimist in me after being here year after year and dealing with the Liberal government. I know the President of the Treasury Board does not like hearing this but there is a belief that the Liberals, as my colleague from Burnaby—New Westminster mentioned, are playing hide and seek with the money.
The government wants to control who is operating with the money but it does not want Parliament to have any say in the matter. There is misbelief over exactly what is happening with the money. I am not suggesting that all the people on the boards of directors or the auditing firms are criminals; I am not suggesting that for one second. The reality is that a lot Canadians think that there is underhandedness going on because the government will not let the Auditor General in. The perception is absolutely one of mistrust of the government, and rightly so.
There are a number of issues about the use of taxpayers' dollars. There is the Groupaction situation and everything we are going through with the Gomery inquiry right now. We hear of numerous appointments after election time. We have heard that 22,000 employees may possibly be moved from the national capital region for political purposes. There is no trust in the government, but there is trust in the Auditor General.
Why is the government doing it? Probably the Liberals want to have control without Parliament and taxpayers having control, and rather disgustingly so. Usually when one is talking like that, one is talking about corrupt third world governments. We hate to see that as the Government of Canada.