moved for leave to introduce Bill C-216, an act to amend the Access to Information Act (Crown corporations).
Mr. Speaker, the bill will make all crown corporations subject to the Access to Information Act. As it stands now crown corporations such as Canada Post, the CBC and the Canadian Wheat Board are exempt from access to information even though they are subsidized by our tax dollars. One must ask why the CBC and the wheat board should be exempt from access to information. The answer is that they should not and that is what the bill addresses.
During the last Parliament the auditor general published a scathing report on the operation of crown corporations. The bill will open crown corporations to the public and make them accountable.
It is my hope the House will recognize the right of all Canadians and support the bill.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)