If I wanted to indulge in political point-scoring, I would ask whether this amendment is still relevant in light of the fact that Gwyn Morgan is not available. However, I would not say such a thing.
Mr. Lukiwski said earlier that the three amendments shared a virtually identical objective. I was going to speak about amendment BQ-32 later, and that is why I was late in putting my name on the speakers' list.
Our amendment is entirely different from L-26 and NDP-22 in that it proposes scrapping the idea of creating a Public Appointments Commission. In a responsible government, decisions are made by the governor in council and the Prime Minister, who assume responsibility for their decisions. It should be for the appropriate committees of the House of Commons to study the appointments that they see fit to review.
Mr. Lukiwski argued that there would be 3,000 appointments to review. Were we to apply that logic to the Auditor General, she would have to audit 21 departments and 3,000 programs each year. However, as far as I know, the Auditor General chooses which programs and departments she will audit. Similarly, I think that the appropriate committees of the House of Commons would know what was required of them and which appointments should be studied. For example, I do not think that the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade would study the appointment of each and every ambassador. However, if something seemed not quite right about a given appointment, the committee could summon the ambassador in question to appear before the committee to answer questions.
I want it to be clear that amendment BQ-32 is antithetical to the two other amendments. We shall therefore not be supporting amendments L-26 and NDP-22.
Thank you very much.