Madam Speaker, I want to point out that the Prime Minister, when he was the opposition leader, said on November 4, 2005 that there is no more important job to do than cleaning up government and bringing accountability back to Ottawa. So, how is it going?
The finance minister just last week, after telling Canadians they had to tighten their belts, jumped on the executive jet and flew off to London, Ontario to Tim Hortons. He spent $9,000 for a trip to Tim Hortons in London to tell people that it was time to restrain themselves and tighten their belts. It was a photo opportunity at Tim Hortons.
In addition, while the Prime Minister is telling everyone else they have to restrain themselves, the expenses in his own department have gone up by more than $13 million. In fact, in 2006 the minister of labour at the time racked up $150,000 on flights on privately hired jets. For a number of those trips he was the only passenger on the plane.
Does this sound to the member that this is the type of cleaning up of government misspending that the Prime Minister promised when he was opposition leader?