Madam Speaker, I know that some members of the House who were here in 2004 will remember my former mentor and predecessor, member of Parliament John Williams. He was the chair of the public accounts committee during the ad scam scandal. I know everyone will be very sad to hear that, sadly, John passed away this past summer.
However, in our many meetings together, John always told me that one of the things that separate developed, successful countries such as Canada from others is having accountability. “Accountability” was his go-to word. In fact, John founded an organization called Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption so that we could bring accountability across the world to all of these nations where corruption was rampant.
Can the member tell us what happens when we do not have accountability, when parliamentarians do not take a stand and hold governments accountable when they are doing corrupt things?