On page 864 it says:
Ordinarily, committees are able to obtain the documents they require for their work by simply requesting them. Where a committee meets with a refusal to provide a document it deems essential to its work, the committee may pass a motion ordering its production. If such an order is ignored, the committee has no power to compel its production, but may report the matter to the House and request that appropriate action be taken.
I have two concerns here. One is that as members of Parliament we have always had access to this information. In fact it was last year, on May 6, that Service Canada sent me a list of who had applied, who was going to receive funding, and who was denied. That is my job as a member of Parliament to know that. Service Canada, at the local level, knew that information. As Ms. Dhalla said, we don't pick winners and losers. I never did. I never thought it was my job.
The other day I was listening to a radio station in Newfoundland where a Conservative member of Parliament, Fabian Manning, said:
There was an attempt this year...to take this program, I guess, out of the politicians' hands. And, to be honest with you, I certainly disagree with that, because I think that nobody understands, you know, the riding as much, as a matter of fact, as the local Service Canada offices, the organizations that are out there, and the MPs in that regard, travelling around.
I have a concern from a privacy point of view, but I don't think this is about privacy. I think this is about disarray, disorganization, and the complete discombobulation of this program. If it takes this motion to force this issue--and I understand the motion is in order--then I think that it's up to us, as parliamentarians, to support that motion and do our job.