Mr. Speaker, once again I appreciate the opportunity to speak on this legislation.
I believe that the members of the Bloc are not being fair, in the sense that they are not explaining to Canadians some of the real amendments that have been made to this bill, which have increased transparency way beyond the previous piece of legislation. The member says there are no increases in transparency. He obviously has not read the bill.
I would like to take a moment on this whole notion of the Power Corporation. Let us talk about Mr. Desmarais. I cannot understand why the opposition casts aspersions on people who have had previous experience with leaders from the business sector, the entrepreneurial sector.
I have a great difficulty with that. I was in the business realm before I came here. I worked for a large multinational corporation, Magna International. As members of the House know, when we take a position in cabinet or as a parliamentary secretary and we sit down with the ethics counsellor we are asked about our previous lives, about our relationships. It is all on the public record.
The position members of Parliament take when they are on the government side, when they have had a previous experience with an industry or a corporation that deals with government from time to time, is that one absents oneself from decisions taken that directly affect that corporation.
If transparency and accountability are the objective of this bill it would seem to me that in the case of the Power Corporation, which the opposition has mentioned several times today, or the Desmarais connection, to use the member's words, there is
probably more scrutiny on that relationship than any other relationship in the House because it involves the Prime Minister.
Members of the opposition are trying to insinuate that in some way, shape or form this bill inhibits transparency or would diminish the exposure or the analysis or the relationship between members of Parliament and their previous lives or their continued relationship with previous organizations. I cannot figure out where they are coming from. As an MP who comes from that background, I do not want to hide my relationship with my previous employer.