Mr. Speaker, I finished talking about Motion No. 1, which can basically be summarized by saying that we need to appoint people based on merit, on their ability to do the job without being hampered by previous baggage, and to do it in a non-partisan fashion.
Motion No. 2 deals with term limits. It limits the chair and vice-chair, that we previously talked about, to one term only. This legislation already takes the term from ten years down to five years without amendment. Five years is certainly a lot better than ten years. How do we hold someone accountable if their appointment lasts that long?
I believe the living example is Mr. Weatherill, who was removed from office after great pain because of spending habits and other things which were considered to be far beyond what was allowed in terms of what was good value for money and accountability to the public.
There are two sides to this issue. We have to have a term long enough to create continuity, while at the same time we do not want such a long term that we end up with people who can essentially become unaccountable. We could use this argument for any official, whether it is a member of Parliament, a member of the Senate or any other public body or institution.
Motion No. 3 is a Bloc motion which would reduce appointments to three years. We see some merit in reducing the appointment of members of the board from five years to three, but we see merit in continuing the five year term for the chair and vice-chair simply because of the continuity question. I am not really hung up on the issue of three years or five years, but it is certainly better than ten years. Five years is probably a bit too long for a regular board member.
Motion No. 4 would authorize the minister to appoint a vice-chair as a temporary chair. This would be in the case of a vacancy. It would require that the appointment be determined by a majority vote of the members of the board as opposed to selection by the minister.
I will finish on this note. It is important that the structure of the board be done right. If it is not done right everything else does not matter. These are important amendments.