Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin my remarks on the appointment of the new information commissioner by saying a word of thanks and appreciation to the outgoing commissioner, Dr. John Grace, for the work that he has done and certainly for the final report that he issued which contained a great many recommendations as to how access to information in Canada could be improved.
The matter of who is to be appointed the new information commissioner has been developing over the last few weeks. There are a few issues that I would like to set straight with respect to what has occurred over the last few weeks in terms of the information commissioner appointment process, how Mr. Reid's name came to be considered and how it came to pass that we are now considering his nomination by the government for information commissioner.
Before Mr. Reid's name came up the government had brought forward to House leaders the name of a Ms. Gusella who, as I understand it from being present at the meetings, said that she was prepared and in fact thought it was a good idea to go before a committee of parliament. However she wanted to know beforehand whether any of the parties disapproved of her nomination. If there was not this sort of prior approval she did not want her name to stand and subsequently would not want to go before the committee.
As it turned out, upon consultation people did have concerns about Ms. Gusella's nomination, not about her competency or her character or anything like that but just about whether or not, given her particular history, she was the appropriate person for information commissioner. I do not think it is correct to say her name was withdrawn. Her name was never put forward.
Subsequent to that it came to my attention that the government was considering Mr. Reid and that Mr. Reid had been suggested to the government, not by the NDP and not by me but by someone else.
At a House leaders meeting I inquired as to whether or not it was true that they were considering Mr. Reid and, if they were, would they agree to allow Mr. Reid to go before a committee of parliament and allow members of parliament to form their own views of Mr. Reid. Not all members of parliament were in the position that I was personally, that is to say in a position of being able to remember Mr. Reid having sat in the House with him from 1979 to 1984.
Somehow my suggestion that if the government were considering Mr. Reid I would certainly be open to having him come before a committee to be questioned and examined by members of parliament has developed into a spin earnestly repeated on the floor of the House only a couple of hours ago by both the government House leader and the official opposition House leader that in some way or other Mr. Reid was nominated or put forward by myself and by the member for Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough. This is simply not the case. I regret that this is so. I regret that even Mr. Reid has this perception. I saw a quote from him to that effect.
It is true that I inquired of the government whether or not it was considering him and suggested that it have him go before the committee. It is true that given my recollections of Mr. Reid's work in the House I was favourably disposed to the idea of having him come before other members of parliament and being considered for the post.
What happened was that the minute we asked that question the government said “Isn't that a terrific idea” and at 9 o'clock the next day Mr. Reid was before the committee. It is quite a stretch to imagine that the government was not considering this before I asked about it when he was before the committee the very next morning. There was no opportunity for what I would think was due process.
There should have been a day or two between the discussion of the House leaders and some notice that Mr. Reid was to appear before the committee so that groups concerned about Mr. Reid's appointment for a variety of reasons would have had an opportunity to communicate with members of parliament and with members of the committee who were to have discussions with Mr. Reid. This did not happen. As I understand, Mr. Reid acquitted himself well at the committee meeting by all accounts from everyone who was at the meeting. That is not the point. The point is that the process was not adequate.
I agree with the Reform Party when it says that surely the time has come, if these positions open up, for them to be bulletined, advertised or made public in some way so that the wealth of Canadians who may be qualified for such positions actually put their names forward, instead of names kind of bubbling up through the bureaucratic or the old boys parliamentary network or whatever it is, all of which is not evil in itself. It is just not adequate in a day and age when people should know that such positions are open and how to put their names forward.
In the case of the information commissioner it is a question of the person being an officer of parliament. We could have applications. People appointed by each of the parties could sit down, make a short list and bring it before a committee. They could make another short list and eventually arrive at someone who was the best person for the job. This would be far too rationale a process for anything parliamentary. I think that is too bad.
We have made some progress. The fact that Mr. Reid came before the committee, albeit in an inadequate way, was nevertheless a step forward. I commend the government for that tiny, baby step forward. It needs to go a lot further than that. It cannot be the kind of rush job it has been.
I regret very much the perception that somehow the government was just sitting there with an empty mind, not thinking about John Reid at all. Then along came the NDP and the Tories who asked “What about John Reid”. “Isn't that a wonderful idea? It never occurred to us before”. Then the government went on to kind of give the impression that it originated on the opposition side when we know that the government was considering it after it having been suggested by whomever.
I wanted to clear that up. I also want to put on record that we have concerns about Mr. Reid's appointment. One things that came to light in the days subsequent to his name being bandied about was his association with the nuclear industry.
Members who know me will know that I do not think anybody in the House has a stronger record of opposition to nuclear energy and nuclear power than me. I have had many private members' bills on this issue, some of which came to a vote. In the last weeks I raised questions in the House about the sale of Candu reactors and my opposition and the opposition of my party to them. However, having said that, I still do not think that association with the particular industry is prima facie evidence of some kind of character flaw.
We can disagree about the role of nuclear reactors and nuclear energy without making an ad hominem argument about the adequacy or the values someone would bring to a particular job. It is a legitimate concern on the part of a great many people that it is not just any industry, that it is the nuclear industry.
I have dealt with the nuclear industry for over 19 years in the House and before when I was an activist against nuclear power and the nuclear arms race. It is one of the most secretive cultures in the world. Trying to find out anything about the nuclear industry is like pulling teeth. It will bury you in inconsequential information. It will fill your home with documents and memos which would take the rest of your life to read. To find the one thing you want to find out, the one thing that is absolutely critical, is very difficult.
Mr. Reid has an obstacle to overcome. He has to prove himself to those who are suspicious of him because of his former association that he can rise above the culture that he was immersed in and be a good information commissioner. I hope he will pleasantly surprise those people who are concerned about his nomination and about his appointment. I hope the concerns that many of my colleagues and I have about that association will come to be seen to be unfounded.
Only time will tell and it is important for us to put those concerns on the record.