Mr. Speaker, under previous Liberal governments Canada's place on Transparency International's annual clean government index was in a downward spiral. After ranking fifth in 2001, by 2005 Canada dropped to fourteenth. It seemed that reports of corruption during the Liberal sponsorship scandal had taken its toll on Canada's reputation around the world as an honest, clean country that could serve as an example to the world.
However, the Conservative Party made a commitment to Canadians in the last election campaign: give us a mandate to govern and we will clean up Ottawa.
After passing the toughest anti-corruption legislation in Canadian history, the Federal Accountability Act, and other measures to strengthen accountability in government, we did just that.
This year I am proud to say that under the leadership of this Prime Minister Canada has reversed the trend and is now ninth in the world on the clean government index.
However, we are not yet satisfied. We will continue to take action and make our institutions more democratic and accountable to ensure Canada is a leader on the world stage when it comes to transparency, openness and accountability in government.