Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to rise today to add a few comments to the discussion on my colleague's Bill C-216, an act to amend the Access to Information Act respecting crown corporations.
First I would like to commend my hon. colleague for Nanaimo—Alberni for bringing forward this piece of legislation. I am very encouraged with some of the comments that I have heard from both sides of the House. Hopefully as we work our way through the three hours of debate hon. members from all parties can see the merit in this legislation and move to pass this bill because it is certainly something that is needed.
People from all parties are saying it is very plain that there is something seriously wrong with a system whereby the majority of crown corporations have to comply with access to information and yet some are exempt. I would refer to a list that was provided by my hon. colleague that clearly indicates what I could call the lucky 13, 13 corporations that he has found to be exempt from the Access to Information Act.
The question is why would these 13 corporations be fortunate enough to be able operate in a shroud of secrecy while taxpayers do not have the privilege granted under the Access to Information Act to actually delve into their dealings and hold them accountable. The act has been used countless times since it was implemented to do exactly that, to hold crown corporations and the expenditures of taxpayer dollars and hold that whole process accountable to the taxpayers themselves. Certainly I commend my hon. colleague for bringing that forward for debate.
I would like to confine my comments to a subject near and dear to my heart and which I have spoken on at some considerable length in the past, one of the lucky 13 on the list, the Canadian Wheat Board.
It is interesting that things have progressed or perhaps regressed to the point with the Canadian Wheat Board that there is actually a grassroots movement that has sprung up in western Canada called ending secrecy at the Canadian Wheat Board. It is actually an organization that has been founded to do the very thing that we are talking about doing today. Basically it has two goals in mind, to make sure the Canadian Wheat Board has to adhere to the Access to Information Act, the subject of today's debate, and to bring it under auditing by the Auditor General of Canada. On both those subjects Reformers spoke at great length recently when Bill C-4 was before the House.
In the very informative pamphlet which this group published for the general public to more fully understand the issue of secrecy at the Canadian Wheat Board, some 58 government corporations which already fall under the Canadian Wheat Board were missed. In the few minutes I have in this debate I certainly do not have time to read the entire list.
However, in looking at the list there are some corporations which jump out at me, such as the Bank of Canada, the Department of Justice, the Department of National Defence and the Department of Finance. In the agricultural field there is the Canadian Grain Commission. All of these corporations are on the list of corporations which have to comply with the Access to Information Act.
In fact if Canadians are concerned about a possible threat to their tax dollars, they can request information. Indeed those corporations have to provide information to them. Therefore, they are held accountable.
It would seem to me that taxpayers deserve and have the right to transparency. We heard government members talk about transparency when questions were directed at them today in question period. They talked about the transparency of their accounting practices. It is almost laughable in light of the fact that the auditor general and now the Canadian Institute of Accountants have clearly called into question their accounting practices. They cling to the notion that there is transparency in their accounting.
In the 13 crown corporations which my hon. friend has noted, there is no transparency. They do not have to comply with the Access to Information Act.
I do not want to use up all the time today. I know there are a number of other individuals, and certainly many of my colleagues in the official opposition, who would like to address this bill.
However, I would like to note that Kevin Avram, projects co-ordinator with the prairie centre, first wrote to the Canadian Wheat Board in January 1994, quite some time ago, asking for information on salaries, pensions and staff positions. Such information is readily available from virtually any government department. Anyone can find out who works in any government department and what the salary structures are for those positions.
The Canadian Wheat Board replied to the letter by stating that the request must be made pursuant to the Access to Information Act. Then he was told that even if he did make an application under the Access to Information Act he still would not get any information because the Canadian Wheat Board is exempt from the act. As I said, a reply to an inquiry like that would be almost laughable if it was not so serious.
I would like to read into the record a letter from Mr. Avram to Robert Roehle, head of corporate communications for the Canadian Wheat Board in Winnipeg. It casts some factual information on this whole area of how the Canadian Wheat Board would be able to operate if it were under the Access to Information Act. We have heard a lot of what I believe to be falsehoods about that and how it would come about. Mr. Avram states:
It has come to our attention that, as a spokesman on behalf of the Government of Canada's policy with respect to issues of secrecy, you are repeatedly stating to the media and the general public that the reason for the Canadian Wheat Board's exemption from the federal Access to Information Act is directly related to the issue of customer confidentiality. I would draw your attention to the fact that Canada's Access to Information legislation already addresses such matters.
As regards CWB operations, the section of the Act known as “Severability” (section 25) provides a mechanism to retain confidentiality with respect to the purchaser's name, yet release information pertaining to the details of CWB wheat and barley sales, i.e. quantity, sale price, grade, protein content, payment terms, etc. You are stating something that is patently untrue when you say that having the CWB come under the provisions of the Access to Information Act would require revealing the identity of grain purchasers.
I would urge you to address this issue from a factual perspective and that you undertake to be better informed about Access to Information legislation before you put forward erroneous positions defending the CWB's ongoing policy of secrecy. Your stated reasons for defending the CWB's policy of secrecy and exemption from Access to Information legislation have no basis in fact.
The letter is dated January 27 of this year and is from Mr. Kevin Avram, Committee to End Secrecy at the Canadian Wheat Board. I certainly agree with the thrust of that letter.
It is interesting to note that as recently as a day ago the Canadian Wheat Board has now denied that it told the committee to end secrecy and that it has no objection to an audit of its books by the federal auditor general or ending the exemption from the Access to Information Act. It now says that it told the committee that the matter is out of its hands and requests for changes should be directed to the federal government.
That is exactly the purpose of this bill today. We are directing that request to the federal government and hopefully it will act on it.