Mr. Speaker, apparently the Prime Minister has entered the witness protection program, so let us try a question for the finance minister.
In 1995 David Dingwall wrote the following to the current finance minister when he was the agriculture minister:
In addition, three projects have been funded through “contributions”. I'm concerned this method of funding could become a means to avoid the normal procedures for public opinion research.
My Department has made efforts to inform Agriculture and Agri-food Canada officials of the policies. It would be helpful if you could reinforce these efforts along with the concern about contribution arrangements for public opinion research.
How can the finance minister stand up and say--