Mr. Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate on Bill C-43 which concerns the registration of lobbyists.
The recent publication of the committee report on Bill C-43 has shown once again that the Liberal Government and the Bloc Quebecois have widely differing views of the work of lobbyists and the framework that should regulate their activities.
My first comment, and I realize Mr. Speaker, that I cannot show it because it is against the rules of this House, but I would nevertheless like to say that the colour of the document does not necessarily reflect the title, which is about restoring confidence, since the document in question is red. I would even call it a Liberal red.
My second comment is that although this red document comes after a Liberal red book we saw during the election campaign, it is pretty obvious that this version is quite different from what we read in the initial red book.
Lately this government has shown, by its conduct, that it has decided to govern under pressure from lobbies hired by large corporations and financial interests instead of governing in the best interests of the people of this country. Recent excesses in this respect by the Liberal government occurred in the matter involving the CRTC and Power DirecTv, a subsidiary of Power Corporation headed by none other than the Prime Minister's son-in-law.
Let us see how the government managed to discredit itself in this affair. Everything started in the spring of 1993, when the CRTC indicated that it wanted to encourage the development of a Canadian industry involved in direct-to-home services by satellite, the so-called DTH. Last August, the Expressvu consortium, a competitor of Power DirecTv, obtained an exemption from licensing, allowing it to offer DTH to future subscribers.
The CRTC granted this exemption because Expressvu intended to use one or more Canadian satellites. Power Corporation planned to use the satellites and programming used by its American associate, DirecTv Inc. That is why Power's subsidiary did not qualify for an exemption from licensing by the CRTC.
Unfortunately for Expressvu, Power DirecTv had a direct line to the Prime Minister. Recently, the Liberal government tabled two orders obliging all DTH companies to obtain a licence-orders that were tailored to meet the demands of Power DirecTv. These orders had the effect of taking the advantage away from Expressvu, a consortium that, unlike Power, had decided to offer its subscribers Canadian content.
I may recall that Expressvu planned to begin operations on September 1 this year. By taking this unprecedented action, the Liberal government blithely ignored the independence of a regulatory agency that also has quasi-judicial powers to enforce legislation and regulations pertaining to telecommunications.
This was a serious decision. In the process the Government of Canada adopted a measure that will take effect retroactively and thus have a negative impact on a Canadian corporation-a procedure that flies in the face of all the traditions of democratic countries. Furthermore, the government is sending a message to the entire DTH industry that it no longer intends to support the development of a Canadian industry.
If the legislation applied by the CRTC no longer serves to ensure the development of the Canadian communications industry, what purpose does it serve? The government must stop hiding and must make public its intentions-if indeed the legislation serves no purpose.
The worst part of all this is that it occurred because the president of Power Corporation had the good fortune-and there is no mistake there-to marry the daughter of the Prime Minister. The ties between Power Corporation and the Liberals do not stop there, as I will demonstrate.
Here are a few examples. The current president of Power DirecTv, Joel Bell, was Pierre Trudeau's economic adviser and was designated by him to launch Investment Canada. The president of Power Corporation, as the head of the China-Canada business council, organized the economic part of last November's trip by the Prime Minister and Team Canada to Asia. Former Prime Minister Trudeau continues to sit on the international board of Power Corporation.
In addition to being the Prime Minister's son-in-law, André Desmarais was his assistant in the early 1980s when he was Minister of Justice. John Rae, vice-president of Power Corporation, directed two leadership campaigns for the current Prime Minister and the 1993 federal election campaign for the Liberals, and so on and so forth.
The government's shady dealings do not, however, stop at this. While some are well married, others, like the Minister of Canadian Heritage, have, it would seem, the incredible good fortune to find themselves at the site of one of the most spectacular financial deals of the century, claiming all the while that they were not involved. This story does not lack for interest either. It could even be made into an excellent sitcom with the film and television talents of our neighbours, the Americans.
A journalist with the Journal de Montréal even wrote last week that the Minister of Canadian Heritage, like the hero of the film Forrest Gump , has the ability to be involved almost incognito in the major events of his time.
Here are the facts. Three weeks ago, Edgar Bronfman Junior, an American citizen, and Seagram announced the acquisition of the American cinematographic giant MCA-a multi-billion dollar deal. This announcement was made in a hotel in Los Angeles. Well, surprise, surprise, the Minister of Canadian Heritage just happened to be in the room next door.
No problem up to this point, at least no apparent one. It must be said, however, that MCA owns 20 per cent of the shares of Cineplex, a Canadian company controlled by another branch of the Bronfman family. And it must be said that MCA wants to make off with Cineplex by amalgamating with Dallas-based Cinemark USA Inc.
Yet, the presence of the Minister of Canadian Heritage in Los Angeles got me thinking. In fact, it appears that Edgar Bronfman Junior's attempt to convince the federal government that MCA is a Canadian company is working. He hopes that this will permit him to escape Investment Canada's scrutiny.
Need I remind you that the government's official policy is that companies dealing in cultural goods must be controlled by Canadian interests, which explains why Mr. Bronfman is trying to put on a Canadian identity.
After the astonishing performance of the Minister of Canadian Heritage in California, Mr. Bronfman will certainly gain what he set out to gain by bringing the minister to Los Angeles in the first place. It should come as no surprise then that the population is becoming increasingly put off, especially young people. I would like to take this opportunity to point out that I am the official opposition's youth critic. My meetings and discussions with young people have made it clear to me just how much they have lost trust in the political machine. Hardly surprising, given the topic of discussion over the past few weeks.
Along the same lines, there was the Pearson airport scandal over the previous government's privatization proposal. The Nixon report, a report regarding the privatization contract which was signed when the election campaign was in full swing, was handed to the Liberal government on November 29, 1993.
This report incriminated beyond a doubt the lobbyists, public servants and political assistants involved. There are several questions which remain to be answered regarding the identity of unethical lobbyists and the illegal or illegitimate conduct of public servants and political assistants in this case. Up to now, the government has preferred to turn a blind eye and to be closemouthed about the information contained in the report, even though these grim events compromise the credibility of our democratic institutions. The demands of the Bloc Quebecois to have the government shed some light on this pitiful remnant of the Conservative era have fallen on deaf ears, up to now.
Of course, the government will claim that it appointed an ethics counsellor to navigate the murky waters of its contacts with lobbyists. Unfortunately, when the heritage minister once again tripped up by writing to the CRTC, which comes under his authority, a letter supporting the licence application of one of his constituents, it took the Prime Minister three weeks to consult his ethics counsellor on this most sensitive issue.
By waiting so long, the Prime Minister himself proved how little importance he attached to his own ethics counsellor. Furthermore, he refused to reveal to the House the gist of the ethics counsellor's recommendations. Such lack of transparency can only lead people to believe that the government has something to hide. The Bloc Quebecois reviewed Bill C-43, an act aimed at monitoring the activities of lobbyists, in all good faith. A strong piece of legislation is essential to help our democratic institutions deal with the wave of public scepticism surrounding the affairs of government.
Even if Bill C-43 brings about some improvements in the somewhat incestuous relationship existing between elected officials and lobbyists, they fall short of the Liberals' commitments as stated in their own red book, the first one, the campaign one.
According to the ethics counsellor appointed by the Prime Minister, even if Bill C-43 had been in force at the time, it would not have helped Canadians to learn more about the troubling events surrounding the attempted privatization of Pearson airport.
The Bloc Quebecois presented interesting proposals giving more teeth to the bill in order to make the process more transparent and to restore public confidence in the management of the affairs of government. The issue of monitoring lobbyists should not be the sole responsibility of a political party, a Prime minister, or a government, because it belongs to an essential
democratic institution, the House of Commons, which is made up of representatives duly elected by the people.
That is why the Bloc Quebecois is proposing that the ethics counsellor be appointed for seven years by Parliament rather than by the party in power. This ethics counsellor, whose appointment is permanent, should be accountable to Parliament and should also have the authority to conduct public inquiries and report on his activities, findings, conclusions and reasons for his conclusions to the House of Commons.
In short, the ethics counsellor should be more than a toothless watchdog serving his political masters and therefore vulnerable to pressure. The Bloc Quebecois also asked that all classes of lobbyists be merged into a single one. We also asked that all lobbyists be subject to the same information disclosure rules.
This recommendation shows the constructive, non-partisan spirit that guided the Bloc Quebecois in its consideration of Bill C-43. In fact, this recommendation can be found in the June 1993 Holtmann report, which is the basis for the Liberal commitments regarding the use of lobbyists and the disclosure of their activities. That is why we, in the Bloc Quebecois, do not understand the Liberals' refusal to implement this recommendation, which is included in their red book.
The strict disclosure provisions proposed in the Holtmann report would allow the population to find out quickly about a lobbyist's status. Since lobbyists try to influence public policy to further private interests, their activities and identities should be disclosed to the public.
I would now like to address the issue of lobbyists' contracts. This bill exempts in-house corporate lobbyists from reporting information on their contracts, although consultant lobbyists are required to report this information. Again, legislators should learn from the aborted attempt to privatize Pearson airport. If the bill is adopted without changes, businesses may be tempted to hire only in-house corporate lobbyists for megaprojects such as the privatization of Pearson airport.
Greater transparency in that regard would certainly be to their advantage, as it would put an end to biases against them as well as sometimes questionable speculations about their income. I would like to say, however, that the purpose of a lobbyists registration act is not to regulate the profession, although Parliament has the right, and even the duty, to supervise the functioning of the public administration that lobbyists try to influence.
The close ties connecting a large number of lobbyists to public officials, politicians and their political staff in the Pearson airport affair demonstrated the magnitude of the problem. Yet, the press was not allowed to disclose the troubling facts surrounding the Pearson airport deal to the general public until the privatization process was over. This sorry affair, which had repercussions on taxpayers, could have been avoided had legislation been in place to prevent the kind of uncontrolled skids that have sullied this privatization attempt.
It is therefore reasonable that those who seek to influence the actions of an administration should also be subject to public scrutiny. Let us be clear on one thing: in a democracy, it is normal for organizations, businesses and lobbies to solicit support from the elected representatives of the people. This is totally legitimate. What is unacceptable, however, is that individuals and businesses who can afford to do so get tax deductions for their lobbying expenses. This has the effect of disadvantaging even more those organizations which cannot afford to counteract the pressure brought to bear by businesses that can afford to hire lobbyists.
That is why we recommend that tax deductions for lobbying fees be abolished. Also missing in Bill C-43 is a provision forbidding lobbyists from circumventing the act. Here again, that provision was included in the Holtmann report which the Liberals appreciated so much when it was tabled.
The government should, if its commitments are sincere, include a clause to prevent avoidance of the law. Secret rules between lobbyists and public office holders are another problem. They contribute to the mistrust of Canadians toward elected representatives. That is why we ask the government to give the status of statutory instrument to the code of conduct of public office holders.
This debate is an opportunity for the Liberal government to demonstrate to the public that it really wants more openness in the dealings of lobbyists with the federal government. The recommendations of the Bloc are not meant to promote the image of a specific political party. They would be a great service rendered to all politicians in this House and to other public office holders.
This whole issue is too important to be left to partisan debate. It is the price we have to pay to restore public trust in our democratic institutions. Another great means to restore that trust would be to pass legislation on political party fundraising. That would contribute to renewed confidence in the operation of the House of Commons.