Mr. Chair, I speak on behalf of all ministers in our government, who look forward to engaging with committees and to appearing before committees, and to defending our estimates before committees, and beyond that to engaging committees in a review of and reform of our procedures around estimates. There needs to be a better alignment between budgeting and the estimates process. That is essential to have respect for Parliament and to enable members of Parliament to actually know what they are voting on and what the cost of legislation is.
I am going to try not to be partisan in terms of reflecting on the previous government's behaviour in this way. I want to speak to the future. We intend to work with members of Parliament from all parties to do a better job of fortifying our ability as members of Parliament to do our jobs on behalf of Canadians and to hold government to account. That is a critical part of their job as members of Parliament.