Mr. Speaker, let me say to the member from the New Democratic Party that there is a very simple answer to his question about whether the Minister of National Defence had recused himself in any discussions about Mr. Schreiber and Mr. Mulroney that came up in cabinet. There were no such discussions. He certainly did not have to recuse himself because there was no need to recuse himself.
This is absolutely typical of members of the opposition when they are attempting to create a scandal where no scandal exists. We have heard the same sort of poppycock from the members of the Liberal Party, who again desperately for weeks upon weeks in question period were asking questions trying to find some smoking gun, trying to find some connection between the current Prime Minister and Karlheinz Schreiber.
In fact, when the ethics committee started discussing this very issue, I recall with great amusement when the Liberal Party brought in their hired gun, the official opposition House leader, who came in to ask the question that was going to blow the lid off this inquiry. He was there, he was primed and he said, “Mr. Schreiber, what contact did you ever have with the Prime Minister and when did you have it?”
Of course, Karlheinz Schreiber said, “I have never spoken with the man. I never had any conversation with him or any of his officials”. Then the opposition House leader whimpered off into the sunset because he did not know the answer to the question before he asked it, which I find astounding since the member for Wascana is a lawyer by profession.
The point I am trying to make is the fact that all opposition parties continually try to smear the government with invented scandals. In the Schreiber affair, as we all know, they are happenings of 15 to 20 years ago. There is no connection whatsoever to this government. There is no connection whatsoever to the current Prime Minister. There is no connection whatsoever to the Minister of National Defence.
I am sure that the member opposite and all members in opposition will continue to try to find fabricated and trumped up charges to try to smear the government in a sordid attempt to enhance their election chances whenever that election may be called.