It's not fair to the people, ... The prime minister and cabinet are the ones that make all the decisions of government and if we don't have a voice there that means our part of the country is not represented.

How can the department explain his department spending $42 million on travel and hospitality while Coast Guard boats were tied up to wharves around this country because they could not afford fuel?

These sometimes are the kind of things that cost lives … In this case, when we look at the number of abuses of the regulations, plus the fact that people were misdirected … people just weren't in tune with proper procedures.

Could the minister tell us where his priorities lie: searching for fishermen in distress or for employees who have gone AWOL?

We can send that size of a delegation to Estonia and the question is, for what? Why do we need 40-odd people there?

How can the minister explain $42 million on travel and hospitality, while Coast Guard vessels were tied up at wharves across this country because they couldn't afford fuel?