Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Elmwood—Transcona has done yeoman's work on trying to hold the government to account and shed some light on this estimates process.
The member is 100% correct. There is zero ability for parliamentarians to hold the government to account.
I will use the $300 million from PSPC. We asked the minister what the money would be used for and to give us details. Was it for hiring more staff? Was it for contracts to IBM? She did not know. We were told that it was preposterous to ask what the money would be used before it was approved: approve it first, then ask later.
We were also told that we would not see one item of detail on how this money would be spent. Taxpayers will be looking at $7.4 billion and they will be wondering where it went. However, we will not know. It will only show in the Public Accounts, after the next election, as a lump sum transfer with no detail.