Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague very much for his question and his kind words about my speech.
I share his concerns about the RCMP. In another vein—and I will elaborate on this—just because we have some doubts about the RCMP’s integrity in investigating this, we should not, in order to calm those doubts, distort the Gomery commission's mandate.
If the RCMP is not the most suitable institution to investigate the sponsorship scandal, perhaps the attorney general should initiate proceedings through the Canadian legal system, as he did in the case of Chuck Guité, Paul Coffin and Jean Brault. They are accused of fraud in the Canadian legal system. They are therefore before the courts now. If I am not mistaken, Paul Coffin pleaded guilty this morning to 15 charges. The RCMP was not involved in this matter. When the attorney general launched a $40 million suit against Groupaction, Everest, Gosselin Communications, Lafleur and their presidents, he did not involve the RCMP either.
If the Gomery commission enables us to identify other people responsible for the sponsorship scandal, it will be up to the legal system to prove that they are really guilty of fraud and to sanction them, if necessary.
However, as regards the RCMP's involvement in the sponsorship scandal, the RCMP has already initiated a dozen investigations of the government, for example, there was Shawinigate and Placeteco; we could provide a list.
My colleague from Central Nova will remember, through his experience in the House, that we are still awaiting, in an odd sort of way, a number of RCMP reports. Here in this House, regardless of political party, we can all ask why in some cases it takes 2, 3, 5 or 8 years to get an answer following anuld not RCMP investigation. In this regard, I share his question and his concern about the speed with which the RCMP makes public its investigations of the government.