Madam Speaker, I had the pleasure of being part of the industry committee that reviewed Bill C-20 at some length and had some input into our party's actually deciding to support this bill and go behind the bill. We are in agreement that it should be passed through the House as quickly as possible.
Why would our party support this bill? I am looking at some of the statements we put together in recommending that our caucus support this bill. With respect to this bill the industry staff has made sure that telemarketers give fair and reasonable disclosure of information at the beginning of each call. This is an important point. It must include the identity of the company, the purpose of the communication, the nature or product of the business interests, price, material restrictions and any terms or conditions that apply to delivery. Those are the kinds of things my party and I support, fair and reasonable disclosure of information and accountability throughout.
The one issue we have with this motion is that it places the responsibility in the wrong place. It is calling for the telemarketer to be responsible for the manufacturer's product claims. We are suggesting that is going a little too far. The responsibility should be in the correct place and left with the manufacturer. If the manufacturer is giving certain guarantees and warranties, that is where the responsibility should lie.
Along with this bill I encourage the House to consider some of the principles behind it. It is the desire of my party that we see the principles for the open, complete and reasonable disclosure of information, as we see in the bill and as addressed in Motion No. 6, exercised by the government.
There is an area where we have failed in reasonable disclosure of information. For a fleeting instant there was a surplus at the end of the last budget year. That surplus was applied quickly and before anyone knew what had happened to a millennium fund, billions of dollars. It is interesting that the auditor general picked up that this was not in keeping with the kinds of principles we see in this bill. The auditor general said that it is not right to expense to a millennium fund in which you have not actually spent the money but are going to spend it some years hence so you will not have a surplus today. The thrust of his comments was that it was not a fair and reasonable disclosure of information.
This is doubly tragic when we look at some of the red book promises of the Liberal Party. It said it would apply some of the surplus to debt and tax relief. Yet it took that surplus and expensed it for some future fund that is intruding on provincial jurisdiction and is going to benefit only a very small number of students. It did this so there would be no surplus and Canadians would not see debt and taxes reduced as this party has long been calling for. This debt is sucking the lifeblood out of our country.
We see the Liberals talking a little about debt and tax relief. Yet when I heard the throne speech and when I read the red book there were between 25 and 30 new spending initiatives. It is pretty hard to reduce debt and give Canadians the long needed tax break they have been crying for. Canadian taxes are the highest of the G-8 countries. In a comparison of Canada and the United States, my hon. colleague from Skeena pointed out the gross taxation in this country and what it is doing to us.
We may hear more in the House about some of the things that happened at the APEC summit which I would say are not at all in keeping with the principles in this bill. This bill tries to make sure the purpose of communication is clear. There was a situation at the APEC summit where it seemed the prime minister's office was more concerned with protecting the rights of a known harsh regime as far as human rights go. It was more concerned with protecting him and putting some of our own quiet and reasonable protesters under abuse.
These kinds of things fly directly in the face of the intent and the kind of principles upheld by Bill C-20.
We see the good in this bill and that is why we support its principles and precepts. Our hope would be that someday there will be a government, and I suggest it would be a Reform government, upholding these principles and precepts.
Once again for hon. members opposite, we would hope that there be fair and reasonable disclosure of information, making sure that the purpose of communication is clear, that the nature of the product or business interests, the price and material restrictions are there for all to see. That is what we call accountable government and that is what we have been calling for.