Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege for me to speak on Bill C-43 and to support my colleagues in the House.
Rebuild trust in government, is that not a familiar term? In Manitoba last month I heard these words repeated because it is having a provincial election today. Mr. Mulroney in 1983 when he defeated the Liberal government of the day said we have to do away with corruption, rebuild trust in government, lobbyists are overdoing it, ripping us off.
The hon. member for St. Albert mentioned a 747 flying through a loop. The "Fifth Estate" about a month ago showed how two lobbyists flew 34 airbuses through the loops the Conservatives had put out. A couple of lobbyists have received $20 million. They can be identified by their accounts in Swiss banks. When I heard that I assumed we were to have a government that would crack down on stuff like this and we would be debating it in the House the next day. I have heard nothing about it.
Why do we want to pass the bill if we never want to do something about it by cleaning up the corruption? In Manitoba over the last month I heard about the terrible mess the Conservatives made of the health care system. They paid $4 million to an American lobbyist to tell them how to fix their health care system and they do not have one.
Why are we debating this bill? Why do we not have some action? We have had rules and regulations before. One very good example took place about a year ago in the subcommittee on transport. Every member, Liberal, Bloc and Reform, said to stop the backtracking. The backtracking issue over the last two years has cost us $60 million. We had total support from the committee to stop it. Who was lobbying the agriculture minister and the transport minister to continue with this? I talked with the railways and they said there was no way they had lobbied for it because they would be shipping grain regardless.
I talked to the wheat board people. They said they did not export grain and that it was the registered grain companies that did that. I talked to the grain companies and they told me it was the wheat board that insisted they do it.
I looked at the facts and found that we do not sell grain delivered to a foreign country. It is Appleby, Thunder Bay or Appleby, Vancouver. This backtracking has cost us $60 million. Are the American lobbyists lobbying our government to give them money to backtrack the grain so they can have it a little cheaper? This concerns me.
We are passing bills. We are passing rules and regulations but nobody seems to want to enforce them. What good are we in Parliament when we all agree on doing something and then have lobbyists change the system? Now the WGTA will correct it. However, we have allowed it to go on for two years and we knew about it.
I am beginning to wonder whether we should all stay at home and leave these lobbyists instead of sitting in Parliament day after day trying to pass regulations. I am sure we have laws on the books that would prosecute these people for ripping off the taxpayers, the only lobbyists we should be listening to.
On the last day in the House on the gun legislation, what happened to the three members who finally listened to the lobbyists in their constituencies and had the guts to stand up in the House and vote no? They have been muzzled, shut up. When that hit Manitoba there was a backlash which I believe blew the election for the Liberals. Why would we elect people who are not even allowed to get up in the House to speak their minds and represent their constituents?
They are some of the best backbenchers the Liberals have. I have worked with them.
It is very sad when we have to witness this day after day and our country is deeper and deeper in debt.
People who have the guts to get up and say something are not allowed to say it. It is time we realize that when there are amendments made that will be beneficial to taking corruption out of the system we should support them, not because they are made by the Reform Party or the Bloc, but because they are good for the country.