First, I want to thank you for allowing us to present our briefs on Bill C-2. The CSN represents 300,000 workers in all sectors of activity. Although it is mainly concentrated within Quebec, the CSN is also present elsewhere in Canada, particularly in the telecommunication and road transport sectors and also represents correctional officers in federal penitentiaries.
We congratulate the current government on its initiative in presenting a bill and a federal accountability action plan. Overall, we agree with this bill. However, we feel that it is lengthy and complex, and we want to ensure that there will be a real consultation process and a rigorous study, because this bill must not be passed too hastily.
Given the short amount of time at our disposal and the complexity of this file, our presentation will focus on a few issues.
First, with regard to political party financing, we are delighted that the federal government included in its federal accountability action plan measures based on the Quebec model that has been in place since the 1970s regarding political party financing, which helped to improve the democratic process during elections.
The ban on corporate donations will help to further the democratization of political party financing, and the provisions concerning the ban on making secret donations to political candidates will also help to clean up election practices.
With regard to budget transparency, we also agree with the proposed approach. In fact, we ourselves had made this recommendation during pre-budget consultations. However, we do have questions about the means used. We wonder if it would not be preferable to create an independent working group rather than having a parliamentary budget officer. We also have questions about this officer's powers with regard to access to information. Why does this position come under the Library of Parliament rather than under the Standing Committee on Finance, for example? We also wonder about the additional resources that will be allocated to the parliamentary budget officer.
As for the protection provided to whistleblowers, we are pleased that protection will be given to employees who wish to disclose wrongdoing. However, we oppose providing a $1000 reward to individuals who would act under the provisions of the new legislation. We fear that this will lead to a culture of whistleblowing. We agree that it is important to protect individuals, but we do not believe that a culture of whistleblowing should be encouraged with a monetary award.
With regard to the Access to Information Act, we do not agree that the reform should be delayed yet again. Moreover, last November, the Standing Committee on Access to Information was unanimous in this regard, if I am not mistaken. Consequently, we believe that the government should move forward as quickly as possible on this issue.
We wish to emphasize our support with regard to the addition of Crown corporations that will be covered by the Access to Information Act. However, the new exceptions are of some concern, with the exception of the special exemption for Radio-Canada and work done by journalists. This is, in our opinion, fully justified in order to ensure the protection of sources.
In closing, I want to mention two things. First, with regard to the powers of the Auditor General, we are pleased with the provisions in this bill.
With regard to the ethics commissioner, our main question concerns the fact that citizens will not be able to communicate directly with this individual, but will have to go through an MP. We would have preferred for individuals to also be able to file complaints with the ethics commissioner who would determine the validity of these complaints.
Thank you.