Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to address the motion to refer Bill C-101 to the Standing Committee on Transport prior to second reading. As we are all aware, in the past a number of bills have been sent to committee prior to second reading. Bill C-45, Bill C-64, Bill C-89 and Bill C-91 are a few of the bills which have gone through that process.
Originally Reformers supported this new process since we believed the government when it said MPs would play a much greater role in shaping legislation within committee. However, committee reform has come to represent yet another broken promise within the Liberal red ink book. That faulty document states that MPs will receive a greater role in drafting legislation through committees. It goes on to say that committees will also be given greater influence over government expenditures.
It will come as no surprise to anyone who has sat on a committee that none of these things has come to pass. In most cases the opposite is true; the role of MPs at committee has been diminished or their efforts have been deliberately obstructed by Liberal committee members.
The best example of this is the fiasco which arose over the committee hearings surrounding Bill C-64, an act respecting employment equity. As I mentioned earlier, this bill was sent to committee prior to second reading under the premise that it could be more easily studied there and amendments could be brought forward and discussed at length.
However the proceedings were completely mismanaged and the whole examination of the bill was so skewed in favour of the government's position that Reformers boycotted the hearings. For instance, only four of the fifty witnesses to be called before the committee were accepted from the list submitted by the Reform Party.
Furthermore, debate on each clause within the bill was limited to five minutes. This meagre five-minute allotment included the introduction of amendments, debate on the amendments and time to ask questions of departmental officials. Government members of the committee refused to accept amendments printed in only one of the official languages, and it is reported that numerous voting irregularities occurred. This was the new and improved committee process we were promised in the red book.
Before referring Bill C-64 to committee prior to second reading on December 12, 1994, the minister of human resources stated that the process represented: "innovation on the part of the government to turn over a bill after first reading to a committee so it can help in the actual drafting of the bill".
As we have heard, MPs from my party were allowed almost no input in the final drafting of Bill C-64. However the futility of committees is not constrained to that one example. If we turn to Bill C-89, a piece of legislation that would see the privatization of CN Rail, we can also point to instances whereby opposition MPs were simply ignored with respect to amending legislation.
The Reform Party put forward a number of non-partisan amendments to the bill that were in the best interests of the Canadian National Railway, the industry and the taxpayer. Again these amendments were ignored and the bill was ultimately fast tracked with no amendments being introduced. MPs who were promised input into the legislative process were thwarted.
Further, it comes as no surprise that the government fast tracked Bill C-89 and is now attempting to do the same with Bill C-101. Bill C-89 permits shares of CN Rail to go on sale this fall. Bill C-101 is an attempt to bring the Canadian rail industry into a more competitive position with respect to its U.S. counterparts. Bill C-101 attempts to make it easier to establish short line railways and abandon lines. It reduces the number of regulations and taxes
imposed on the rail industry. Should Bill C-101 be fast tracked, CN Rail shares will look more inviting to potential investors.
In all, Bill C-101 is a huge piece of legislation which shippers, railways and provinces have serious concerns over. All these parties have a right to be heard and that right should not be denied because the government wants to ensure CN Rail shares will sell this fall.
In August the minister of agriculture stated that the legislative process surrounding Bill C-101 would be open and amendment friendly. However, as I understand it, the Standing Committee on Transport has imposed arbitrary deadlines for submissions by stakeholders.
Further, I am told that while submissions have been received by the committee, the committee has yet to make them available to committee members. Why should we believe the minister of agriculture or anyone else with respect to the promises of openness and thoroughness at the committee stage?
The minister of human resources promised the same in relation to Bill C-64 and Reform MPs were shut out of that process as well. The government is long on promises, awarding MPs greater powers at committee stage. However it is short on delivering on promises, as we have already seen in a number of bills.
Therefore it will come as no surprise to members of the Chamber that I cannot support the government's motion to refer the bill to committee prior to second reading. Reformers will not assist in fast tracking such an important piece of legislation to spruce up CN Rail's profile for sale of its shares this fall. Reformers will not help the government limit access to committee hearings under any circumstances.
All parties affected by Bill C-101 have a right to come forward and be heard. We gave the government the benefit of the doubt and supported its promises of parliamentary reform through the committee reform system. It has done nothing to revamp the process and its promises amounted to nothing but so much Liberal hot air, of which we have had enough in the Chamber, let alone at committee.
I guess committee reform will just have to be added to the long list of Liberal broken promises. Accordingly I will not support the motion presently under debate.