Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his contribution to this debate. While I do respect him, I am disappointed that he does not see how important this ethical issue is. He wants to talk numbers, and he is so excited about them that he is blind to the importance of ethical issues to our society, our democracy, and the House of Commons.
He repeatedly said that we could have talked about this or that other thing today. He seems to think the question before us and ethical issues in general are trivial matters. In his opinion, a minister who pockets thousands of dollars a month through a company governed by laws the minister himself introduces, is of no importance to Canadians and is merely a distraction.
I would like my colleague to at least acknowledge that ethical issues are important to our society, particularly when it comes to ministers and public office holders, who make decisions every day and must be held to the highest ethical standards. Can he at least talk about how important he thinks that is?
I would also like to know what he thinks of the fact that the minister misled his own caucus, the House of Commons, and Canadians about the blind trust.