Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to be here to answer these questions. However, I have to say that once again the Liberals are doing what they normally do and that is to try to create a scandal where no scandal exists.
Senator Housakos has asked the Senate ethics officer for a complete investigation of this matter. That in itself, I think, speaks volumes about the innocence of Senator Housakos on any of these charges made by the member opposite.
I always find it very amusing whenever a Liberal, particularly from Quebec, rises and asks a question about financial wrongdoing and scandal. We all know, and every Canadian knows, that the biggest financial scandal in Canada's parliamentary history was the sponsorship scandal.
We have seen documented evidence through Justice Gomery's commission of the theft of taxpayer dollars that ended up in Liberal riding association bank accounts. That is well documented.
Of course, we again hear the caterwauling from the side opposite because, whenever we talk about the sponsorship scandal, it is like touching a raw nerve of the members opposite.
I would also point out to my hon. colleague that at the parliamentary ethics committee, my colleague, the member for Peterborough, has brought forward a motion to ask the Auditor General for a complete investigation of the more than $40 million still missing that Justice Gomery was prevented from investigating because of the terms of reference of his commission.
I would suggest that any Liberal member from Quebec should welcome such an inquiry, because there are doubt and aspersions cast on every single Liberal member from Quebec, which is where Canadians may believe that some of that missing $40 million could have ended up, in those Liberal riding association bank accounts to finance elections.
Rather than trying to fight this initiative and deny the Auditor General going forward and launching a full-scale investigation into the missing $40 million, one would think that Quebec Liberal MPs would welcome this to try to prove their own innocence and demonstrate that their reputations are above reproach.
However, we do not hear this; we do not hear this at all. All we hear from the members opposite is deny, deny, deny and their attempt to try to pretend that they were the victims of this massive parliamentary scam, this massive scandal, that outraged Canadians from coast to coast to coast.
However, what we do hear, any time there is any opportunity for a Liberal to try to accuse the government or government members of some impropriety, is them doing so. However, let me say once and for all, they always do so and it is without any substance.