Ottawa

‘Not since the Enron scandal have we heard such a ludicrous excuse’

Fresh from the inbox, a statement from interim Liberal leader Bob Rae.

“Yesterday, while attending the Summit of the Americas in Columbia, Stephen Harper dismissed his government’s fumbling of the largest military procurement in Canadian history by calling it an ‘accounting’ discrepancy.

A multi-billion dollar hole is not a discrepancy. It is fiscal incompetence at best and, at worst, outright misdirection. Not since the Enron scandal have we heard such a ludicrous excuse. When filling out their tax forms this year, Canadians should ask themselves what reaction they could expect from the government if they filed incorrect figures and claimed it was an ‘accounting discrepancy.’

Thanks to the good work of our Public Accounts critic Gerry Byrne, Liberals are calling for a special committee meeting this week to shed light on the F-35 fiasco in the wake of the Auditor General’s damning report. The Conservatives must allow for a full transparent study of this report and not revert to their usual methods of closing committee doors to avoid embarrassment.

Canadians have the right to know who in the government knew about the true costs of the F-35 and when they knew it.”

Both the Liberals and New Democrats have requested a meeting of the public accounts committee and that meeting will likely take place later this week. At that meeting, there will likely be a vote as to whether or not to launch a study of the auditor general’s report. The Liberals have a list of ten witnesses they would like to hear from.

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