Madam Speaker, you put the right kind of pressure on all of us. I would hope that the member would only rise if there was the occasion of a real point of order.
As I said, we have been debating this so long we may have forgotten why we are having this debate. We must not forget we are talking about over 180 conflicts of interest involving $330 million. I know other members have said it is more than that. Those are not the government's dollars, but the dollars of the citizens we represent. They send their hard-earned tax dollars to the government with the expectation that they be treated with care. By being treated with care, they mean not for narrow or partisan interests but for the public interest. How can we tell if money is spent correctly? We may disagree on priorities or the reasons for said spending, but we should always be alerted when an officer of Parliament raises concerns.
What happened? As the Auditor General told us, but only after a whistle-blower came forward, I would add, she discovered that over $330 million in contracts had been improperly awarded by this Liberal-appointed board of directors. She was also surprised to discover that these same Liberal-appointed board members had all kinds of conflicts of interest.
One wonders if they were getting advice from Mark Carney back then. Just to recap, there were 186 conflicts of interest involving $330 million that improperly went out the door. Much of this money was directly funnelled into board members' companies. Aside from the obvious conflicts of interest, it was also revealed that some of these projects were not even eligible for funding under this program.
This is where it gets truly insulting to Canadians. I have constituents who, through no fault of their own, were overpaid CERB money. When this happened, as we all know, the CRA clawed back the money. That is the end of the story, full stop. What happens here? What happens to all the money paid out wrongly to ineligible corporations run by Liberal insiders? Will it be clawed back in the same way it would be for everyday Canadians who work and pay their bills, or will this be different? As is so often the case when it comes to the Prime Minister, there is one set of rules for everyone else and one set of rules for him and his friends.
I have been listening to this debate for several days now, and not once have I heard a single Liberal member demand that all this money be recovered. Why is that? Why is there always a different set of rules for the Prime Minister and his friends?
It was quite something when the leader of the NDP recently flip-flopped on the carbon tax, and the Liberals gleefully accused the NDP of caving in to pressure. However, when the Liberals caved in to pressure and exempted home heating oil from the carbon tax, that was different, was it not? It is okay for the Liberals cave, but not for anyone else.
Of course, we all know it is not acceptable to try to hide the documents that allowed this green slush fund to enrich the Liberals' cronies. That is, of course, why we are here, as the Liberals try to hide these documents.
What is most insulting is that the Prime Minister's Office has come out with the most politically absurd defence imaginable, and that is saying a lot for this particular Prime Minister's Office, given the great many scandals. It claims the Liberals are standing up for the charter in trying to hide these documents as they run from accountability. Who dreamt this up?
I had a constituent ask me if the Liberals are seriously arguing they have a charter right to engage in corruption. On the Liberal side of the House, the members will not want to hear that. They will say that is not what they are trying to say, but the problem for the Liberal government is that this is all Canadians are hearing, because this is what happens when a government has zero credibility and a well-documented track record of corruption and failure.
To be clear, I also want to say that I realize many members on the Liberal side of the House are not directly responsible for what has happened here. We all know there is a small and powerful group of unelected people within the Prime Minister's Office who call the shots. Likewise, we know that certain ministers remain ministers at the Prime Minister's cabinet table because they will do what they are told and they will also look the other way.
This is exactly what allowed the SDTC green slush fund to enrich wealthy Liberal friends and insiders. A minister did what he was told and looked the other way. Only a whistle-blower stood in the way, and now we see a desperate Prime Minister's Office trying to hide behind the charter as a defence for Liberal corruption.
The lengths the Prime Minister's Office will go to cover this up are incredible. That is why we are here, and oddly, as I said earlier, the Prime Minister's Office does not seem to care. As long as it can hide from transparency and accountability, that is all that matters. It makes me wonder what is within those documents the Liberals are so terrified of, but if the Prime Minister's Office has its way, we just will never know.
Before I conclude my speech, let me ask a simple question of the Liberal side of the House. When the members eventually leave this place, either through an election or on their own, and when they look back at this green slush fund, they will know the facts. That there were 186 conflicts of interest is a fact. That over $330 million improperly went out the door is a fact.
Did they come here to defend the Prime Minister's Office, or did they come to make a difference in their community? I think most are here for the second reason. They have a real chance to do something meaningful here.
They must tell the Prime Minister's Office that enough is enough. It is time to come clean, stop hiding the truth and send a message that in Canada, transparency and accountability still matter. That does not change. It is time to send a message that they could always be proud of the day they stood up and said enough is enough to the Prime Minister's Office, because Canadians deserve better. Many of the Liberals deserve better from their Prime Minister. We all do.
Let me thank all the members of this place for hearing my comments today. I look forward to their questions.