moved for leave to introduce Bill C-349, an act to provide for parliamentary scrutiny and approval of user fees set by federal authority and to require public disclosure of the amount collected as user fees.
Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise today to introduce my private member's bill, the user fee act. In the last 10 years user fees have doubled in the amount the government collects.
Many people are concerned that in the last several years as the public service has come under increased scrutiny, many government agencies are using their abilities to increase user fees to become profit centres for the government. In doing that they avoid being chopped. This is a big concern of many people and myself.
In the 1993 auditor general's report it is stated: "We are concerned that Parliament cannot readily scrutinize the user fees established by contracts and other non-regulatory means. There does not exist a government-wide summary of the fees being charged, the revenues raised and the authorities under which they are established".
Probably the best example of how user pay without user say has gone awry is the case of the Pest Management Regulatory Agency. Its budget has gone from $14.2 million in 1994 to $34 million in 1996, chiefly because there has not been parliamentary scrutiny of what is going on in bodies like this.
I would urge my fellow colleagues to read the legislation and if they have questions to contact me and hopefully they will ultimately support it.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)