Madam Speaker, it was only once the current government became a minority government that it agreed to talk about canola in a special committee on Canada-China relations. The Liberal government is going to send $256 million of taxpayers' money to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. The Auditor General is asking for much less than that to be able to do his job and audit the government.
The Auditor General needs more money because the current government is spending like no other government in Canadian history. This Prime Minister is the highest-spending prime minister in Canadian history. It makes sense that the Auditor General needs more money to sort through all of the spending and programs. Infrastructure Canada's funding programs include more than 50 programs and involve 32 departments.
If we want the Auditor General to do his job, we need to give him the means to do so. Since we are at odds with China, on canola in particular, I think we should use the money that we were to send to the Canada Infrastructure Bank to adequately fund the Auditor General of Canada.