Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his erudite and perspicacious interventions. He is alone over there battling it out in a caucus that is not interested in greater levels of access to information and more accountability for parliament.
I credit him for slogging it out in the trenches over there surrounded by people who really are not interested in change and in improving the accountability of government and parliament. He is a lone voice. Perhaps he would be better suited over here working with like-minded people who are truly interested in change.
His question about crown corporations and government agencies is an important one. One of the disturbing trends is that more essential services of government are being provided by arm's length agencies. In terms of accountability the arms are very long but in terms of direct political intervention when it is deemed necessary by the government, the arms are very short. There should be significant—