Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak briefly to Bill C-37, an act to amend the Judges Act. I know we will be breaking for votes in several minutes and I will therefore summarize my remarks.
I would like, first of all, to commend the hon. member for Scarborough—Rouge River for his thoughtful remarks. He spent a great deal of time and attention on this issue and I share many of his concerns about the question of judicial compensation.
I also wish at the outset to associate myself with the remarks of my hon. colleague from Crowfoot whom I think eloquently expressed the inappropriateness of parliament granting a de facto 10% compensation increase to members of the federal judiciary over the next two years at a time when Canadians have suffered from a reduction in their after tax disposable income over the past two decades.
It occurs to me that parliament's principal obligation is to promote the interests of all Canadians and not small groups of Canadians. It seems to me that until all Canadians have seen some increase in their disposable income and an increased standard of living, we ought not to be using our power to increase the disposable after tax income of a particular discrete elite in our society such as judges.
I would also like to say that we are now debating Bill C-37 and this afternoon we are going to be very briefly debating Bill C-47, which applies to compensation increases for members of this House. One cannot comment on the judges bill without taking note of the fact that we will be voting on our own pay increase this afternoon.
Unfortunately I will not have an opportunity to speak to that bill because of a motion that was granted by unanimous consent of this place to limit debate.
The Scott commission on the increase in federal judges' salaries recommended this 10% increase and the government has taken that recommendation in the sense that it has legislated it in Bill C-37. I find it very interesting that there is a double standard. Bill C-47, concerning MPs' compensation, which we will be debating and voting on this afternoon, has been brought before this place without consideration being given to the report of another independent commission, the Blais commission, which was established following the last general election to review and make recommendations on the compensation paid to parliamentarians.
It occurs to me that we are creating another double standard. Canadians have shrinking disposable incomes because of high taxes and we are proposing an increase in pay for judges. We are also creating a double standard when we accept the binding recommendations of one commission on compensation, the Scott commission, but on the other hand ignore the recommendations of the Blais commission.
I have a very serious problem with this process which I would like to put on the record. I feel that the Blais commission, like the Scott commission, did good work and was sincere in its recommendations, which I thought were very thoughtful and appropriate.
Among other things, the commission recommended full transparency in MP compensation. It recommended scrapping the tax free expense allowance and replacing it with a proportionate amount of taxable income so that MPs alone could no longer exempt themselves from the tax laws that we impose on other Canadians. It recommended no net increase in actual compensation, contrary to the recommendations of the Scott commission for judges, and it recommended reform of the members' pension plan. It also recommended an increase in the housing allowance available to parliamentarians.
On the whole, I thought these were sensible recommendations which respected the need for a single standard of compensation for all Canadians. We ought not to choose one particular group of people, in particular ourselves, to exempt ourselves from the laws that apply to the rest of Canadians, as we do by exempting one-third of our income from the Income Tax Act. We ought to follow the same guideline when it comes to our retirement allowances.
When the Scott commission came down with its report, the government said “Fine. Everything is well. We will go ahead without even a review of a parliamentary committee and legislate this 10% increase”. When the Blais commission came down with its report, suddenly there was a huge clamour among government MPs who said that they rejected its recommendations. I do not suspect all of them did, but certainly some did.
I quote, for instance, the hon. member for Mississauga Centre who in the February 9 edition of the The Hill Times said with respect to the recommendation of the Blais commission that we eliminate the tax free expense allowance and gross up the taxable salaries “If we are going to get nailed, at least we want to get nailed for a reason and see it in the wallet. Screw the Blais report”.
I find that very difficult to swallow, coming from a member of the government which legislated the Scott commission report. We did not say, in the words of that hon. member, “Screw the Scott commission report”—excuse me, Mr. Speaker, but I am quoting another member—but we did with respect to the Blais commission report.
I would like to put this on the record and say that I object to the process by which our own compensation has been handled. I think the process that is contemplated in Bill C-37 is far more appropriate, where an independent commission would make the decisions and recommendations. Although I disagree with the recommendations of the Scott commission and will vote against the bill because of them, I do think that we need to take these decisions out of our own hands, particularly where there is a conflict of interest.
I hope that we will at some point in this place revise the manner in which we change our own compensation so that it is an arm's length process which will not be compromised by an inherent conflict of interest.