Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if I could give my Member's statement a title today, it would be the great dilemma. To ask or not to ask, to speak or not to speak, to be or not to be.
It is possible to do this job and say very little. My predecessor only made 14 Member's statements in eight years and asked relatively few questions in this House. If one has the good fortune of looking reasonably intelligent, I suppose they could earn the admiration and respect of their colleagues and the public by just being.
Lately, I have been trying to bring questions to this House that I truly believe the public is interested in knowing the answer to. There are inherent risks in our style of consensus government of asking too many questions.
Without a party system, the strategy for bringing about accountability and transparency is more convoluted than one might imagine. Although we speak of the privilege every Member has, to investigate and make statements about matters of public concern and the dignity we enjoy as Members which carries with it the privilege to be free from unwarranted interference, it is not quite that simple.
Since every Member sits as an independent, people could construe your questions to be motivated by a very personal, devious or untoward agenda. If the person being questioned suspects this and takes the questions as a personal affront, the whole process begins to deteriorate. So for the record, Mr. Speaker, after weighing out the pros and cons of speaking or not speaking, I have decided that in spite of the risks to me personally, or politically, it is worth it. It is worth it because this is a public government. This is the people's government. The money we have spent are the people's money. The people have the right to know.
In case you think I embark on this mission of accountability and transparency lightly, I assure you I have considered the consequences. We are a small group of legislators here and it is human nature to want to avoid confrontation and to be liked by the people you work with.
In spite of the warnings and admonitions with the accompanying details of what might happen to me if I do not adhere to this advice, I will continue to ask questions in public, in the hopes of upholding the confidence of my constituents and the public in this government.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to offer my compliments to my friend Mr. Todd today on his Minister's statement entitled the Aurora Fund. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.