Mr. Speaker, I listened to the President of the Treasury Board with interest and I appreciated the compliments regarding the work we have done on the improved performance and reporting to Parliament.
The point we want to make is that by the very definition of improved reporting to Parliament we are in command of better information in order for us to make appropriate decisions and vote according to the information laid before us.
I think the government and the estimates, especially the part IIIs, have not provided that information to us or the minister is alleging that we are unable to discern from these part IIIs what monies are to be expended including the part IIs and what are for future years.
I have already written to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans regarding one item in this improved reporting to Parliament regarding TAGS. TAGS is a very important program for Atlantic Canada because of the situation there. The new improved reporting to Parliament contains three lines regarding TAGS. The auditor general had to write three chapters on the issue. The fisheries committee has been consumed with the issue since then. However, this improved reporting has given us three lines to tell us the government's initiatives, its plans, its hopes and aspiration for this program.
Therefore, what I am trying to tell you, Mr. Speaker, is that this improved reporting to Parliament has a long way to go. Perhaps this debate we are having today would indicate that the government has an obligation to clearly set out in the part IIIs, which is an amplification of the information in the part IIs, the Appropriation Act, so that we can understand what is in the part IIs and also provide their direction as to where they are going down the road in the future.
I draw your attention to the points I raised yesterday regarding the Ports Canada Corporation. In the part IIIs and in the part IIs the budget has been reduced to zero for this fiscal year. The corporation is still ongoing because the legislation has not been passed in this House. Obviously the work the corporation was doing is still ongoing. Obviously the money it is spending is coming from somewhere because the proposal by the minister is that budget be zero. We are being asked to vote on that budget to say the budget is zero.
We know, the minister knows, the Minister of Transport knows that the work is ongoing and the methodology and the focus of the government will change once the legislation is passed. Here we are in this particular instance, and no doubt it applies to the others too, where by our vote this evening, if we are to vote, we will endorse something the government intends to implement rather than voting for what has taken place so far.
The minister talked about legislation, using the part IIIs, improved reporting to Parliament and how they outline initiatives that the government may wish to take. Hence he used that to justify his argument about legislation to be introduced.
As I said, the government has an obligation to tell us what we are voting on. We do not want to debate the issues of the estimates in a vacuum. This was the whole debate regarding the improved reporting to Parliament as far as the estimates, the performance documents and so on, and the whole debate circled around that. But we do not want to try to determine the $50 billion odd that we are voting on without having it in context.
So we ask the government to lay out its plans for the future. The performance documents will give us some historical documentation in the same format so we can assess the issues. But we specifically ask that the estimates be laid out clearly as this year's appropriations within the context of a wider vision, forward and historical.
Again I tell the minister, and I use the TAGS example of three lines for a very major and important program that affects very seriously a major part of this country, that if the government feels that improved reporting to cover what it is doing this year, next year and how it is going to resolve the issue down the road can be covered off in three lines, that beats me. I think that speaks for itself.
The minister talked about the proposed environmental protection act. Part IIIs talk about the proposed environmental protection act. It was introduced in the last Parliament. I said yesterday that the part IIIs were introduced last February 20 and the identical documents were introduced on October 1, even though it now appears that with the intervening election the government's initiatives, agenda and list of priorities have changed.
We are being asked to vote an appropriation act based on the government's agenda as it was before the election, not as it is today. We know, because the government did not table all the legislation that died on the order paper, that the government's agenda has changed.
Surely if the government had respect for this House it would have redrafted the estimates to reflect the new initiatives and it sought not to do so.
The mandate for the International Trade Tribunal appears, again according to the part IIIs, to have been expanded and extended and legislation is required for that. There is nothing in the part IIIs to suggest that the government intends to introduce legislation.
On CCG, the Canada Communications Group, the minister talks about it being a statutory program. I outlined in my argument yesterday why even though it is a statutory program we as parliamentarians are being asked to vote on it. It is because it has a revolving fund and we vote on revolving funds. Take that into consideration, Mr. Speaker, when you are doing your deliberations please.
Finally, when the minister talked about how they are valid until challenged and struck down here or in court, this is the highest court of the land. I am asking you, and I asked you yesterday, not to defer this decision to a court, but this court; this court that defends the rights of the people and the rights of the Commons, that has the sole right to grant supply to the crown. No one else has it. No one else has ever had it.
We know that by our parliamentary democratic procedure that nobody else should have it. If we are to believe in the theory of taxation and representation this House and this House alone retains for itself the right to pass these things.
Therefore I ask you, Mr. Speaker, to set aside the minister's arguments that this is a valid procedure until struck down by a court of law.
We are asking you, Mr. Speaker, to stand up for this court and rule accordingly.