Mr. Speaker, it is with pleasure that I rise today to speak on Motion M-304 brought forth by the hon. member for Red Deer with respect to the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act.
The objectives stated by the hon. member for Red Deer tend to be very similar to those of my own party. As a matter of fact, in our view of democracy, it is very important that public financial management be characterized by transparency and openness.
All the hon. members of this House were elected by people who want and have a right to know how their money is managed, this money we take off their pay cheques every week for taxes of all kinds. The people of Quebec in particular want to know what the Canadian government is doing with their money and what they get back in return.
The Access to Information Act is one of the tools available to them and I think it should be amended to apply also to crown corporations such as Air Canada and Canada Post Corporation, government agencies such as the Senate as well as public office holders who report directly to Parliament, like the Commissioner of Official Languages and the Auditor General of Canada.
As I said, the Bloc Quebecois firmly believes that public administration should be as transparent as can be in a democratic regime. But this is not always the case here. Too many government institutions are still not subject to the Access to Information Act and I think that it is high time that the scope of this act be broadened to force these institutions to operate in a more upright and honest way.
The government continues to hide far too much information that could be useful to the public. Take the Senate for example. Partisan appointments to some of the best paid positions in the government are made by the party in office. The public has no say in the process, nor does it have access to the information circulating within the ranks of the government. That, in my opinion, is not very transparent.
Yet, transparency is essential to regain the confidence of taxpayers who are increasingly wondering about the way their money is spent, considering the national debt and the numerous cuts to social programs and other government services.
In his Throne Speech made in January of last year, the Prime Minister said, and I quote: "The Government is committed to enhancing the credibility of Parliament. Changes will be proposed to the rules of the House of Commons to provide Members of Parliament a greater opportunity to contribute to the development of public policy and legislation". The Prime Minister also
said that, to achieve this agenda, integrity and public trust in the institutions of government were essential.
It goes without saying that a relation of trust between the government and the public is vital. However, we realize that no such relation exists when we see the resentment shown by Canadians toward the federal government.
This is an opportunity for the Prime Minister to give weight to his words by taking concrete legislative measures to ensure greater transparency within the public institutions and agencies.
Of course, the Access to Information Act plays an important role in providing information to which the public is entitled. However, we must not forget that certain types of information must remain confidential so as not to prejudice the competitive position of certain Crown corporations.
The relevant legislation, the Privacy Act, is particularly important because it has the effect of protecting information, the disclosure of which might be injurious to national security. That is why this confidentiality has been recognized by means of exemptions provided under the Act. It also protects the interests of individuals, both with respect to personal information and information of a commercial nature. However, it is probably true that the corporations and institutions exempted from this legislation are not necessarily motivated by concern that information might be disclosed to competitors but may be simply reluctant to reveal to the public certain threatening aspects of their activities.
In any case, the complexities of a system for access to information on government administration are well beyond the scope of the motion presented by the hon. member for Red Deer. Here the concern is not, as it says in the motion, to require that Parliament and crown agencies be subject to scrutiny under the Access to Information Act. As we have seen, there are two sides to this issue: providing access to information while reinforcing measures to protect privacy.
That is why the Bloc Quebecois, in the name of our democratic principles and in its resolve to increase the transparency of the present system, agrees with the report of the Standing Committee on Justice and Solicitor General released in March 1987, which recommended that the Access to Information Act should apply to all federal institutions, including administrative tribunals and the Senate.
The Bloc Quebecois insists above all on the importance of full transparency, especially with regard to the Senate. As I said earlier in this House, people are entitled to have access to information issued by this non-elected level of government.
Quebecers and Canadians are dissatisfied with the present government, which keeps important information from them and which ignores them by not taking their views into consideration and dealing with important public matters in secret.
They are unhappy with the treatment they receive from federal institutions, public servants, politicians and the government machine. This is why the Bloc Quebecois agrees with the essence of Motion M-304 and believes the Access of Information Act should apply to all publicly funded government institutions. It is time to get on with it and implement real and effective access to information legislation that will reflect our concern for true and just democracy.