Mr. Speaker, I think we are on the right track in examining the bill.
I point out clause 17 of the bill to the hon. member, which is found at page 9. The Prime Minister will be appointing the governing council. Clause 17 states:
The governing council may
(a) appoint, layoff or terminate the employment of the employees of the CIHR; and
(b) establish standards—
That is the point we are making. I hope that the Canadian public is listening.
What this will lead to, and I think the member might agree with me, is the difficulty that Health Canada has had in the past. I bring to the member's attention the case of Dr. Chopra, who was one of the scientists who testified on the shredding of documents which had to do with the BST hormone issue. Basically he was silenced by the government. He was told to shut his mouth and go away quietly. But he did not. He appealed through the human rights tribunal, which sided with him. That was a huge victory for him and other public servants.
We want some safeguards built into the system so that we will not be confronted with the same type of situation where there is some independence being exercised which is arm's length from government. I cannot see that in the bill as presently written.
The member might agree with me. Obviously it is one of the changes that we would like to see in the bill and possibly entertain in the next few days as we go into committee. Maybe the member could comment on that specific section of the bill.