Madam Speaker, there were numerous protections that we brought forward in the previous Conservative administration, starting with the Federal Accountability Act, which created opportunities for various officers of Parliament. We would not even know some of these things if it were not for the hard work done through the Federal Accountability Act. It was the first piece of legislation that Stephen Harper brought forward, Bill C-2, back in 2006, if my memory serves me correctly.
Part of that work was strengthening protections for whistle-blowers. I think there is even more that we could do now because there is a culture of secrecy and fear in the government. In some cases, I hear these things. We need to make sure that people feel not only encouraged to, but also secure in coming forward with information of wrongdoing in the Government of Canada. We should not have a culture of secrecy.
The Prime Minister spoke of “sunny ways”, “transparency” and sunlight, but we have seen everything but in the last number of years from the government with the amount of money it has spent and the money that has gone out the door. We do not even know about some of the hundreds of millions and billions of dollars that were spent during COVID. There is no traceability or accountability with respect to that.
We need to strengthen whistle-blower protections. I thank the whistle-blowers. If the Prime Minister is not going to listen to the whistle-blowers, maybe he should listen to Canadians. I am sure they are ready to pass judgment on his performance.