Mr. Speaker, my question is on the funding of festivals. First, it was the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women, and now it is the Minister of Industry, who said yesterday that his government does not throw money away.
The government justifies its refusal by saying that it wants to avoid another sponsorship scandal. This is ridiculous. It is not the festivals that were responsible for the scandal: it is the Liberals. Quebec is offering to the minister, as a temporary solution, to apply its own criteria. Are we to understand that, by turning down Quebec's solution, the minister is suggesting she does not trust Quebec's ability to save the festivals?