Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would address an allegation made by the hon. member, which is really unworthy of him. He suggested that I made a comment that the member for Kings—Hants did not belong here and suggested that was referring to his dual citizenship.
Mr. Speaker, you were here. You did not hear that. I suspect the member for Kings—Hants did not hear it and I do not know where that kind of a smear could come from, from a member with so much experience.
Getting to the merits of the issue though, it is interesting. Our government was elected to ensure politics was taken out of the contracting process. We want to get away from the old days of Liberal pork barreling, Liberal interference in the contracting process, and that is exactly what this government is doing.
It is really interesting that when those members were on this side of the House, they would make statements that were entirely inconsistent with what they are saying now. I want to quote the member for Kings—Hants who spoke just a few minutes ago. This is what he said in the Ottawa Citizen on May 17, 2003:
I believe we need to replace failed regional economic development programs and corporate welfare with dramatic corporate-tax reductions, because the market can pick winners and losers better than bureaucrats.
Now he is singing a different tune. I would like to ask the member for Bourassa, how does he square those kinds of comments with the comments he has just made in this House suggesting there should be further interference with the contracting process?