Mr. Speaker, allow me to briefly comment on the chief government whip's comments before moving on to my comments on certain amendments or certain motions in amendment, in particular Nos. 22, 28 and 29 which were introduced by my colleague from Berthier-Montcalm.
The chief government whip has just talked about the co-operation, openmindedness, and responsibility that parliamentarians have regarding this bill. Let us put this into perspective.
First of all, we are talking about keeping better tabs on lobbyists. Let us not forget that the government manages and spends close to $160 billion annually. I think that it would be worthwhile to tighten the controls on those who influence the government's decisions.
He also told us that this is the responsibility of all parliamentarians and not just government members, the Cabinet and ministers. This is pretty well the spirit of the proposed amendments. The issue is having the House nominate the person who will be ethics counsellor, which is in line with what the whip was saying. In this case, we are told no; let us choose the person who will be answerable to the Prime Minister, not only to the government, but to the Prime Minister. And there, he went against what he was suggesting earlier.
The current debate seems in a way to be an attempt to get out of a commitment that they regret having made now that they are in power. One must understand party funding, for example Liberal Party funding, to understand that, once under the direct influence of lobbyists, it is less desirable to keep better tabs on lobbyists than it was when they were in opposition. A remarkable change in attitude.