Auditor General  Mr. Speaker, let us see if the record is still broken. Yesterday, in response to a question from my colleague about the decision to appoint a unilingual anglophone Auditor General, the President of the Treasury Board said, “Upon completion of a rigorous process, the most qualified candidate was chosen.”

Auditor General  Mr. Speaker, it is obviously still the same broken record. If, after months of searching, they were not able to find an auditor general who, as the job poster indicated, was proficient in both languages at the time of hiring, it shows what kind of employers the Conservatives are.

Ending the Long-gun Registry Act  Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to rise in the House today to speak to Bill C-19, which would abolish the long gun registry. I am pleased because this is the first time I have the opportunity to speak to this issue, which has been discussed for a long time now. There have not been many debates, but we have had some.

Ending the Long-gun Registry Act  Mr. Speaker, something keeps happening over and over and over again. Until now, the debates in the House have been polarized. Of course there are irritants. After speaking with hunters, collectors and the people in our ridings, we on this side of the House realize that there are irritants in the gun registry.

Ending the Long-gun Registry Act  Mr. Speaker, I listened to the previous question by the hon. member opposite. He was wondering why we should have a firearms registry if it does not prevent certain crimes. However, during the debate on Bill C-10, the government used the opposite argument, saying that minimum sentences would help victims by preventing and deterring criminals from committing crimes.

Ending the Long-gun Registry Act  Mr. Speaker, this speech was filled with the same main points that are emblematic of this government's approach. Issues are always black and white. There is never any middle ground—we are always either for something or against it. I heard the wonderful speech by the member for Gatineau.

Ending the Long-gun Registry Act  Madam Speaker, I have two points to make. First, we are talking about the guillotine. For the fifth time since this Parliament began, the guillotine is being applied to important measures, namely, extremely critical debates that were central to the last federal election. For this reason, these debates must happen.

G8 Summit  Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has claimed over and over again that the G8 projects came in on budget. However, now we learn that projects in Huntsville came in at over $5 million more than projected. Huntsville will need to raise its taxes to pay its part of the G8 slush fund.

G8 Summit  Mr. Speaker, no matter how much the government insists that all expenses were justified, the fact remains that the President of the Treasury Board refused to provide all documentation to the Auditor General during her investigation. The three amigos—the minister, the mayor and the hotel manager—recommended projects without providing the necessary documentation.

Copyright Modernization Act  Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for her question. Hopefully, that kind of discussion would take place in committee. The committee members could propose various paths. Coming back to an academic perspective, I think measures to protect Quebec's book market would be necessary, particularly for professional books and text books.

Copyright Modernization Act  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his question. In fact, this bill is extremely complex and technical. That is why we have identified a number of weaknesses. The one relating to the destruction of materials, of course notes, after 30 days is a striking problem, but the main problem I see in this bill is the lost income for authors, creators and artisans.

Copyright Modernization Act  Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Manicouagan. We are very pleased to see that this government wants to take action to modernize the Copyright Act. These changes are long overdue. We are open to making changes. However, we would be even more receptive if the result was a balance that would benefit all stakeholders.

G8 Summit  Mr. Speaker, let us continue on the question of transparency. The Standing Committee on Public Accounts, which is dominated by the Conservatives, did not adopt a motion to study the Auditor General’s past reports. To top it off, that was done behind closed doors. There are reports that show us the full extent of the mismanagement of public funds by the Conservatives: millions of dollars wasted on helicopters and corruption in the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner.

Committees of the House  Mr. Speaker, last week opposition MPs tried to get the public accounts committee to study past Auditor General reports. Conservatives forced the meeting behind closed doors, an assault on transparency and accountability. Now it turns out this committee did not adopt a motion to deal with these important issues on government waste and mismanagement.

Committees of the House  Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives continue to hide the truth from Canadians. An opposition motion to study the Auditor General's previous reports was not adopted by the Standing Committee on Public Accounts: reports on cost overruns for military helicopters, the $500,000 severance paid to the integrity commissioner, and mismanaged renovations on Parliament Hill.