Madam Speaker, members of Parliament were aware, and I can provide the hon. member with documents, letters and representations made by many of his colleagues seeking funds from Public Works from the sponsorship program.
The constituents in my riding of Kings Hants, and I was not a Liberal member of Parliament, received grants for the apple blossom festival. The pumpkin race in Windsor received funds from the sponsorship program. We have representations from Bloc members of Parliament seeking support from the sponsorship program.
It is very obvious that all members of Parliament ought to have been aware because many of them, regardless of political party, were working to attain funding from the program.
Let us be clear. The intent of a program aimed at strengthening the presence of the Government of Canada in the regions of the country and helping laudable community based organizations succeed and have events is a reasonable one.
The issue with the sponsorship program was one of implementation, management and administration. We will never say that it was wrong to have programs that enable organizations in the hon. member's riding or any other member's riding to achieve a level of federal government support and funding, and to strengthen the presence of the Government of Canada in the regions of the country.