Mr. Speaker, I had the opportunity to ask a question during question period in relation to a large fundraiser at which tables were $7,500 a table or something like that. The Prime Minister attended and patronized the event as the guest speaker. It draws to this question. Can one be in favour of totally eliminating corporate donations and also reducing personal donations to $1,000 but then turn around and patronize this kind of event?
In terms of the theme, it really had to do with whether it is a matter of do as I say but not as I do. I thought what I would like to do is ask the government if it would respond to other elements that seem to be of the same kind of attitude. It is an attitudinal thing.
How about the current industry minister who ran for the Liberal Party and then crossed the floor to become a cabinet minister in the Conservative Party? Yet this was one of the items that the Conservatives were very specific about. They were very specific about opposing the practice of floor crossing.
How about the current public works minister, who said that he was not interested in running in an election? He did not want to run, but after the election the government decided it would appoint him to the Senate and then also make him the Minister of Public Works and Government Services. Is this not the government that in its Conservative platform said it was in favour of an elected Senate? Again, it said one thing and did another.
How about recruiting lobbyists for government positions? There is a list that is growing daily to allow former Conservative staffers to register as lobbyists and to in fact lobby the people for whom they worked just before the election.
How about pushing through the softwood deal? The Conservatives said, hey, free trade and the dispute resolution mechanism, we have to make it work. As a matter of fact, the Conservatives said they were not accepting a penny less than $5.4 billion. What did they do? They negotiated a deal that in fact left over a billion dollars on the table.
How about partisan appointments? There was Gwyn Morgan, a Conservative bagman, to head the supposedly non-partisan appointments commission. The Conservatives say they do not want partisan appointments, but they turn around and do it for a very important position, a person who is going to scrutinize appointments to government positions.
How about handing a $500,000 contract as a federal negotiator to Harvie Andre, a former Conservative cabinet minister with deep ties to the Tories? How about Nova Scotia's former Tory finance minister, Neil LeBlanc? He is consul general to Boston. How about Richard Bell, co-chairman of the Conservative election campaign in New Brunswick, who was appointed to the New Brunswick Court of the Queen's Bench? How about former Conservative MP Jim Gouk going to the board of directors of NAV CANADA?
Time and time again, the Conservatives say one thing but do another. On accountability, how about the Conservative Party now being investigated by the Chief Electoral Officer, Jean-Pierre Kingsley, for failing to report delegate fees to their 2005 national convention, raising and spending millions of dollars with no transparency, as required under the act? Yet they continue to say they were being accountable.
I have more examples, but I think the government has to start responding to the question. Why is the government's attitude “do as I say, not as I do”?