Mr. Speaker, neither Motion No. 18 nor 19 is acceptable. The motions deal generally with the affairs and management of the commission and how the commission is kept accountable to Canadians.
Motion No. 18 appears to be intended to provide for some form of oversight on the commission's activities in order to promote efficiencies in the commission's internal operations. However the way it is worded would require the commission to publish any comment made to the commission at any time during the year and the commission's response to those comments and to publish those comments in its annual report regardless of whether those comments are reasonable or not. This is an unreasonable burden and would impede the efficient operations of the regulator.
I would like to point out that both the auditor general and Treasury Board provide oversight on the commission's activities: the auditor general, in his intermittent review of the AECB's operations, and Treasury Board when it reviews and approves the AECB's annual estimates.
I would also like to point out that the minister, under clause 12(4), has the right to request the board to provide reports on its general administration and management and to have the results published in the annual report if the minister wishes. Therefore mechanisms are already in place which provide for oversight over the operations of the commission, as this amendment proposes to do. It is unnecessary.
The requirement in Motion No. 19 to hold a public hearing on the internal management, operations and business practices of the commission would impose a significant administrative burden on the commission and a significant cost as well.
Motions Nos. 18 and 19 would both establish a precedent regarding the public scrutiny of the internal operations of the regulatory bodies. There are broad policy implications involved and it would be unwise to do this until the government assesses the implications. For these reasons, the amendments are not acceptable to the government.