Mr. Speaker, I love the comments from my hon. colleagues. Law & Order is a fantastic show; even the new one that is filmed in Toronto. Maybe they should actually watch some of it to figure out how these investigations happen.
However, if the RCMP had access to documents that might be inadmissible, it could at least put together a timeline of events and it could put together what has occurred. The fact that the Liberals are not interested in learning about the wrongdoings of board members that they appointed tells us all we need to know, which is that when this government started appointing board members to this organization, its lobbyists and friends, its eyes turned as green as the colour of my tie.
The SDTC organization had been going on for years without any problems. If we go back to the previous government, Jim Balsillie was the chair of that board and never put in an expense report. There was never an Auditor General concern about that organization or the way it disbursed funds. It was only when this government decided to appoint its friends, knowing they would be in conflict of interest. Thank God for the whistle-blower who let everybody know, before these appointments were made, that certain individuals would find it very hard to do their duty because they would be in so many conflicts of interest.
What was the response back to that initial concern? It was, “Do not worry about it, we have it taken care of.” Well, “have it taken care” of is right, with $400 million all the way to the bank.
If Canadians are upset that Parliament is not working, they only need to look at one party. This motion, this request, is within the full rights of Parliament to make.
This makes it right because Parliament has asked for it. In the past there have been multiple times when Parliament has asked for documents in previous administrations. Do colleagues know what other governments have done? They have found another way to get past the impasse. During a very difficult and controversial issue with respect to treatment of detainees in a previous government, a secret committee was struck in order to allow members of Parliament to see sensitive documents related to national security. I do not see any creativity on that side of the House trying to find a path forward.
If the government was interested in getting back to work, it would try to find a way to get back to work. As I mentioned before, I would be willing to work with that side of the House, to find a path to get this place back to work. That could include turning over the documents, but of course we see that the government is not that interested in doing that. Maybe if the government recovered the $400 million, we could move along and let this go to a committee where there would be full scrutiny, but only if taxpayers are repaid. To me, that would sound like a very reasonable compromise. I would commit to working with my colleagues in order to make that happen. If the government is unwilling or unable to even get a significant portion of those $400 million in funds returned, I think we might as well stay here for a very long time.
I noted the question from my friend from the Bloc to the previous speaker about how long might this go on. I think we should try to find a compromise, but it has to include either the release of the documents or a full accounting and repayment of the $400 million back to the taxpayer. The $400 million is not a number that opposition party members have said was misappropriated or went to ineligible recipients. That number came from the Auditor General. We could have no more credible source when looking at government spending than the Auditor General.
By the way, this would not be the first time that the government has not accepted the findings of the Auditor General. In a very rare case, the Auditor General produced a report on the CERB and wage subsidy audits that the government did not even accept. It was one of the first times in at least a decade where the findings of the Auditor General were not accepted. However, here I have not heard that the government has not accepted these findings. It seems bizarre that it is not also trying to recover the $400 million for taxpayers.
I think we have established that Parliament has a right to these documents; taxpayers have a right to be repaid; there needs to be transparency; and the RCMP, to the extent that it wishes to look at the documents, should be able to look at them. As for the fact that the clerk might make them available to the RCMP or send them along, I do not think that should be of concern to anybody here, because once the documents are tabled, they are basically public anyway.
Unless the government wants to come up with another way, I think we are going to be here for a little while. I am fully confident that when we talk about the severity and the size of the grift in this circumstance of $400 million, it should bring this place to a halt. It should make a government think twice about how it is going to proceed. The fact that multiple opposition parties support this motion should let everybody know that $400 million, this entire circumstance, is that important that this place is coming to a halt until we get the documents. Release the papers.