Madam Speaker, on January 29 I asked a question in the House and I did not receive a satisfactory answer from the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities. I asked whether the Conservative government was actually getting money out the door for crucial infrastructure projects across the country or simply conducting serial photo opportunities. Specifically, the minister could not confirm for me whether the federal government's $50 million contribution to the Ottawa Congress Centre had been delivered, although there had been three announcements, including one from the Prime Minister.
In addition to that, the minister gave a cynical and misleading response. He stated, “Mr. Speaker, this government was very pleased to support the Canada Line that goes through guess whose riding”. I would hope that the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities knows his geography well enough to know that the Canada Line does not go through this member's riding of Vancouver Quadra. It actually begins in a Conservative member's riding in Richmond, and it was a project that was approved and funded by the previous Liberal government.
In fact the Evergreen Line, for which the Conservative government recently announced funding while not putting it in the budget, strangely enough, is primarily in the riding of the member for Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, a Conservative member.
For three years the government has failed to act in good faith for all Canadians, putting partisan advantage ahead of principle, and it is doing it again. Members will remember the broken promise around income trusts, which cost seniors billions; the Cadman bribery scandal; the RCMP raid for cheating on election advertising; the broken fixed-election-date law; and the massive cynical Senate appointments. That is why the Liberals have put the Prime Minister on probation.
For three years the Prime Minister has failed Canadians through his mismanagement of the economy of the country, spent wildly to try to buy his way to a majority government when economic times were good, drained the structural surplus left to him by the Liberals by cutting the GST, denied Canada would be impacted by this global crisis, failed to act, and tabled a fudge-it budget in November showing surpluses on which there had to be an about-face within a couple of weeks. That is why the Liberals are putting the government on probation.
The Liberals recognize the urgency of moving forward on behalf of Canadians whose jobs are lost or at risk. That is why the Liberals have supported this budget, flawed as it is. Now the Conservative government actually has a chance to redeem itself. What I would contend is that the Conservative government has to change to honesty, competence and non-partisan government for all Canadians, which it has not been demonstrating.
The Conservatives have two options now. One is to exploit this crisis and the misery of Canadians who are losing their jobs, their companies, their pensions and their homes with a program of partisan photo opportunities, announcing and reannouncing cynically their building Canada fund projects while not cutting cheques. The second option is for Conservatives to redeem themselves by stewarding Canadians' tax dollars into investments with openness, sincerity and non-partisanship.
I would first ask the minister to tell us whether a cheque has been cut for, and delivered to, the Ottawa Congress Centre; second, to table a list of all building Canada fund projects that have been announced, and the dates they were announced; and third--
