Mr. Speaker, the member is absolutely right. He was on the steering committee fighting to have this issue brought before Parliament and the committee.
There is a pattern evolving. We saw it in the sponsorship program. When we started to get to the truth on some of the information at the public accounts committee, the government knew exactly what was coming. It was not a government scandal. It was a Liberal Party of Canada scandal. The Liberals knew the details. They knew the people involved. They fought tooth and nail to crush anyone coming forward.
The Prime Minister made sure there was an election before Mr. Brault could testify. The same thing happened here. The government was absolutely in full damage control mode. It had the resources and the lobbying. It did not want this to come before the committee.
Why did the Liberals not want the committee to talk about the ADR? Members from the New Democratic Party and members from the Bloc will tell us why. They know this system is failing the aboriginal people in Canada miserably. It is an unmitigated disaster. Hundreds of millions of dollars are going into a sinkhole with no results. There is no accountability.
When $200 million or $300 million is spent on a program and 1.5% of the claims are settled in that many years, when 70% to 80% of that money is spent on administration, I would be embarrassed too. I would want to run away and hide.
As a further delaying tactic the Liberals are saying, “Let us send it to the committee and have a study”. That is the most shameful position that a government could have.
Only a month or two ago the government fought tooth and nail against the Conservative Party because its members said they were getting calls from aboriginal people across the country who want to talk about this, that the system is failing them and that people are dying and they are not getting justice.
Now the Liberals suggest they want to send it back to the committee in good faith. It is no different from the sponsorship program. There is a parallel. They try to hide everything they know is wrong. Why do they not come clean? Why do they not stand up and acknowledge that this is an unmitigated disaster and that they have absolutely failed first nations people miserably in this country?
Let us try to work together to see if we can bring these people justice, the ones who have only weeks or months to live and who deserve that justice, as opposed to sending it back for some lengthy delay, some long study. The Liberals should stand up and show some leadership and direction on this file. Their only solution is to send it back to committee.
I would be embarrassed if I were a member of that party.