Mr. Speaker, I would like to take a few minutes to respond to some of the things I have just heard.
I had something to do with the drafting of the 1987 report, the Cooper committee, the legislation that appeared afterward, and then of course the Holtmann committee, which reported to this House early in 1993.
The member across who just spoke is missing a few points. I know he is sincere in what he is doing and in what he is proposing. For that I commend him. I am sure he means very well. There is, however, something wrong with the logic of what is proposed by the member. The member is saying that only an officer appointed by this House and the other place could in fact be truly independent in terms of administering a code of conduct for lobbyists. There is something very flawed with that. Members will know that if that were the only test for independence of judgment then no judge in this country would truly be independent. If it were the only test for independence, then the director of competition policy would not be independent, and so on.
Of course members will say that one of the differences is that judges have tenure. That is obviously true, but it is not true of all positions where there are quasi-judicial bodies. Therefore the member is wrong when he says that only an officer of the House administers in an independent and non-partisan way. What he is doing, notwithstanding his obvious good intentions, and I credit him for those again, is creating and setting a stage whereby it will be difficult for anyone having this function to operate independently because of the aspersions that are cast perhaps even inadvertently today and in this debate.
There are a number of people who make rulings. I can think of the CRTC. I can think of the director of competition policy as one person who reports to the same minister. Does anyone say that these people operate in a way that is not independent? Does anyone suggest now that their judgment is tainted because they were appointed by the government?
In this case, the person was appointed by the government in consultation with the opposition. There has been that consultation. I remember the Prime Minister specifically mentioning it on the floor of the House. The consultation was made with the two opposition parties.
Someone was just heckling who obviously-and I will try to be kind-not having had the benefit of hearing the whole debate in this House today is pretending to be outraged by-