A letter from Canada's opposition leader Michael Ignatieff

Earlier today I spoke directly to Canadians about the need to replace confrontation with co-operation in the House of Commons and I laid out our party’s response to the Conservative government’s second accountability report.

Unlike the NDP and Bloc – who rejected the report without even reading it – we’ve been a party of government and hope to be so again. So we can’t afford to behave irresponsibly.

After studying the report and consulting with Canadians, we have serious questions about the government’s performance.

Click here to watch Michael’s statement to the press

There are four questions Canadians deserve to have answered:

1. The government needs to tell Canadians what its plans for employment insurance are – now, not in three months time.
   
   
2. Canadians want the facts on infrastructure: how much money was spent in the critical first 120 days? Not promised or flowing or committed – actually spent.
   
   
3. What plan does the government have to get our finances back under control? Mr. Harper’s past commitment to get us back to balance within 5 years is noticeably absent from the accountability report.
   
   
4. Although it does not figure in the report, the health care crisis is of urgent concern to Canadians. If Chalk River can’t supply the isotopes for needed diagnostic tests, where is the government going to find the alternative supply and what plan has the government put in place to manage the health care crisis in the future?

So where do we go from here? Canadians don’t want an election. I am not seeking an election. But doing our job means standing by our principles – standing up when the government lets Canadians down.

As Liberals, we are prepared to give Mr. Harper the time he needs to answer these questions, extending this sitting of Parliament if it’s necessary to get the work done. The real question is: does Mr. Harper want Parliament to work?

He can make it work this week by responding honestly to the concerns we have raised – by giving Canadians the transparency and accountability they need from their government.

Yours,
Michael