Mr. Speaker, my colleague from La Prairie—Atateken said this was unacceptable. What is unacceptable is the fact that the government did not even verify 50% of the contracts awarded, worth a total of $64 million, to see if the work had been done. What is more, these contracts were awarded untendered to people who did not even have the technical expertise. Our system includes something called ministerial accountability.
Who was the minister responsible for ensuring that the contracts were fulfilled? Is the parliamentary secretary willing to admit that his government dropped the ball and that this was a failure? No, he is blaming it on the civil service. What kind of message does that send to Canadians? It is never the government's fault. They did not even verify 50% of public contracts to see whether—