Madam Speaker, I advise the member that decisions regarding the level of fees should be made right here on the floor of the House. We should not be delegating the authority to some bureaucratic who is nameless, unelected and unknown, who advises his minister that he thinks they should vary or increase the fee and the minister does it. This is how the bill reads.
The Bloc is trying to change the motion so that a committee of the House would make that decision in lieu of the minister by order in council.
Unfortunately we cannot support the motion by the Bloc even though we feel the decision should be made right here on the floor of the House because unfortunately the Bloc does not understand the rules of the House. Committees do not make decisions. All committees can do is report back to the House. Committees do not have the authority to make legislative decisions.
Any motion approved on the floor of the House is not legislation by itself. It is only an expression of the House. We only approve legislation. We cannot initiate legislation through a committee. That is where the Bloc is totally misinformed and cannot understand the rules of the House, which leads me to the question of separation. When Bloc members want to separate from the rest of the country they have no understanding of the process. The referendum they had in Quebec last month was ruled illegal by a court in their own province, and yet they proceeded with the referendum anyway.
We now find they do not understand the rules of the House, where they expect committees to make legislation. It is little wonder we have a party that cannot understand how to enjoy life within the confederation and would rather head off on its own. I am concerned for the people of Quebec if they are to be led by a group with no concept of how to live within a set of rules.
Getting back to the legislation and getting back to more relevance, we want to see decisions made by members of Parliament. We do not want to delegate the authority to the minister who acts on the advice of some bureaucrat. We want to see the minister make up his mind and bring a proposal to the House in the form of legislation. We look at it, debate it and vote on it. If it is approved that is fine, but we do not want to give him a carte blanche to vary the rules at his whim without debate, without the public at large realizing what is going on. That is why we have to oppose the motions proposed.