Mr. Speaker, there are two separate issues we are talking about here. One is the accountability for Canadian parliamentarians, to be able to say to the Canadian public that this money has been spent in an accountable, transparent process, that money can be tracked, that it is going to contribute to the overall good and health and welfare of our communities, that the projects fall in line with the community priorities and targets, have been well thought out and well planned, and are strategic in nature.
I would argue that some of what I talked about in this recovery is accountability initiatives that I am asking the Government of Canada, the parliamentarians, to take on.
When we talk about AIG and the outrageous compensation that went to executives, I would argue that in part there are some mechanisms in Canada with our banking system and our financial sector that have prevented that kind of process from happening, but we have not been immune.
The member talked about AIG, but I did not hear him talking about the hidden sub-prime mortgages in Canada and the impact of that on people losing their homes right now. I think we need to look at the mistakes that have been made, like AIG, and learn from them so that we do not repeat those kinds of initiatives in Canada.
Again, what I am saying is that www.recovery.gov has some good principles that would be helpful in terms of us setting up some mechanisms in Canada to ensure that the public can engage in this process.