Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to be able to take the floor on Bill C-65, an act to reorganize and dissolve certain federal agencies.
My motion deals more specifically with the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, or ACOA, and reads as follows:
That Bill C-65, in Clause 2, be amended by replacing line 14, on page 1, with the following:
"recommendations of the Minister, following consultation with the Lieutenant Governor of each province in Atlantic Canada and with the approval of the standing committee of the House of Commons, that normally considers matters relating to industry, to hold of-"
The goal of this motion is both simple and two fold. We would like that the government of each of the Atlantic provinces, as well as all the members normally interested in such matters, that is the members of the industry committee, be involved in the appointments.
This would make for a better climate in government and fulfil a need. We know that it is rewarding to be a Liberal, as the Globe and Mail showed, but our amendment would avoid situations like the one we are experiencing, where the minister responsible for ACOA recently nominated political organizers to the board of a federal agency based in his riding.
This is the kind of thing we want to correct or at the very least avoid.