Thank you, Mr. Chair. That was entertaining, as I hope I've been entertaining.
As you can tell, I appreciate—and I assume all of my colleagues can appreciate—that I do this with the best intentions. I'm passionate about the people I represent. I represent 7,000 fishermen, and they need their voice heard because this government isn't....
Out of respect for my colleagues around the table, I will go.... I believe, as MP Findlay said, I was speaking to the motion, but I'll go directly back in a more direct route to the amendment of MP Blaikie that is at hand.
What I'd like to bring to the attention of this elongated meeting is a Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat document—and I'll refer to this for the translators—entitled “Meeting the Expectations of Canadians: Review of the Responsibilities and Accountabilities of Ministers and Senior Officials”.
I think you'll find this enlightening in the context of ministerial accountability to Parliament. If you want to grab a coffee, it might be a good time.
On page one, in the introduction, it reads:
Accountability in the Government of Canada is framed by our system of responsible government. This system is based on the Westminster model, the cornerstone of which is the doctrine of ministerial responsibility.
This is a Treasury Board of Canada document:
Parliament has a responsibility to hold the government to account. Ministers are accountable to Parliament for the exercise of authority assigned to the Crown under the constitution and under statutory law.
This is a Treasury Board document. It's not just the nice words of the government when they came in on open and transparent government in 2015, which seems to have been lost in the archives.
This document is from the Treasury Board, which is the controller of where all money goes. If you want to know the relevance of the Treasury Board to a budget, it decides how the budget spending gets done after the budget's been delivered.
My colleague MP Findlay sat on the Treasury Board. As I'm sure all those listening will be shocked to know, in my time as a ministerial assistant, I briefed my minister for the Treasury Board for seven years, so I know all about the considered cases and the appendix cases, and that details of the problems are in the appendix cases, where officials all agree and think the government doesn't need to look, but I digress.
Let's go back to the Treasury Board document, “Meeting the Expectations of Canadians: Review of the Responsibilities and Accountabilities of Ministers and Senior Officials”. In paragraph two, it reads:
This review of the doctrine and practice of ministerial responsibility was conducted in response to direction from the Prime Minister to the President of the Treasury Board following the tabling of the Auditor General of Canada’s November 2003 report. The report’s investigation of the sponsorship program and advertising activities—
Some members of the Liberal Party will remember that.
—drew the attention of Parliament and the public to the issue of accountability.
The Library of Parliament, as you heard earlier, has also written on the issue of that incident. The document continues:
A number of other measures were taken at the time to address concerns about mismanagement of the sponsorship and advertising program, including the creation of an independent commission of inquiry led by Mr. Justice John Gomery to examine past behaviour in the sponsorship and advertising programs and to formulate recommendations in order to prevent mismanagement in the future.
Since December 2003—
This is a Treasury Board document.
—action has been taken on many fronts to strengthen accountability—
Here are some of the things that they said have happened in this document:
Management expectations have been clarified, and the capacity to meet them is being enhanced.
Wow, does that sound like bureaucratese.
It continues, “Improvements have been made in transparency and reporting to Parliament.” This must be an old document because it doesn't seem to be that way now. It goes on to say, “Measures have been taken to enhance financial management.”
Untendered contracts to McKinsey and to personal friends.... Wow, something has happened. It's the old Pomp & Circumstance.