OTTAWA -- Hours before he was to deliver a broadcast address to the country, Prime Minister Paul Martin said it's important that he speak directly to Canadians about the sponsorship scandal.

"I think it's a question of accountability, of responsibility," Martin said as he left a cabinet meeting Thursday.

"I think it's a question of telling Canadians what we have done. For example, as soon as we got the first report from the auditor general (about possible wrongdoing in the federal sponsorship program), I moved to cancel the sponsorship program as prime minister."

Martin played down allegations made at Justice John Gomery's sponsorship inquiry about Liberal interference in the appointment of judges.