Mrs. Bonnie Crombie (Mississauga—Streetsville, Lib.): 
    Mr. Speaker, for months the Conservatives have been waving oversized cheques at infrastructure announcements with their party's logo on them; apologies followed.

    At these same announcements, some members even signed those oversized cheques, giving the impression that the cheque was a personal one from the member; apologies followed.

    Recently, we have seen another outrageous example of Conservative partisanship. Students were offered water bottles from a parliamentary office. The problem was the water bottles had the Conservative Party logo on them and no apologies were offered.

    Kudos to Manitoba's Louis Riel school division for refusing to accept these water bottles. It goes against its policy to accept politically partisan propaganda, and rightly so.

    As parliamentarians, we all know that students of all ages should be commended for their achievements. An accomplishment on bilingualism is one to be proud of and congratulated, not used as a political opportunity.

    These congratulations ring hollow in the face of a political statement from a member of the House when he said, “Canada is not a bilingual country. Bilingualism is the god that failed”. Who said that? The Prime Minister.