Yes, I look forward to the next election and the election after that. I say that in all humility and with the greatest amount of respect for the Reform Party.
I am proud to be a member of a government which has made integrity a top priority. All that my laughing colleagues in the opposition need to do is look at how this government is viewed by Canadians today and compare it with previous governments. How many cabinet ministers have we had resign because of conflict of interest violations or ethical implications? Zero. We have a great record and that is why Canadians will re-elect us again and again.
Our promise about integrity goes back to the 1993 red book commitment to restore honesty and public trust to our political institutions and regain the confidence of Canadians in their government. Canadians wanted a fundamentally different approach to politics than they had experienced in the nine years before this government took office.
Once elected, this government acted decisively to deliver on its commitment. We have put in place many initiatives. First, we introduced amendments to strengthen the Lobbyist Registration Act by increasing the transparency of lobbying activities and by giving the ethics counsellor the power to investigate complaints about lobbying. All lobbyists now have to reveal more about their projects. Not only must they disclose their fees, but they are prohibited from including contingency fees in their contracts. There are also stiff penalties for lobbyists who do not adhere to the rules, up to and including prison sentences.
Second, the Prime Minister tabled a new conflict of interest code for public officeholders in the House on June 16, 1994. Perhaps hon. members opposite might take the time to read this very public document.
The code is a public document and is available to the public. The code demonstrates that this government recognizes that restoring public trust involves strengthening the system from both the public office and lobbying side. Cabinet ministers are bound by it. All public officeholders are bound by it.
The code sets out key principles that apply to all public officeholders: ministers, secretaries of state, parliamentary secretaries, ministerial staff and full time governor in council appointees.
Canadians would be pleased to see that this code of conduct clarified old obligations and added new guidelines for government decision making. It also requires that ministers, secretaries of state and parliamentary secretaries disclose the assets and the activities of their spouses and dependants.
The new code has clear rules and the government is committed to upholding them.
I am sure that all members would agree that we have a responsibility for maintaining the trust of Canadians in their political institutions. As the Prime Minister said in the House in 1994, “Trust in the institutions of government is not a partisan issue, but something all of us elected to public office have an obligation to restore”. We all have a responsibility to serve Canadians with integrity and to be accountable to them.
Third, a new ethics counsellor was appointed with responsibilities in two related areas, conflict of interest and lobbying. This office administers the code of public officeholders.
The ethics counsellor investigates allegations against ministers and senior officials and reports his findings to the prime minister. The ethics counsellor also provides guidance to lobbyists on their dealings with government and may investigate complaints about lobbying activities. As hon. members will know, the ethics counsellor provides an annual report to parliament on matters related to lobbying.
As we promised in the red book, we have worked to restore trust and relevance to the House of Commons. For example, members of parliament now have greater influence in the legislative process. This government has supported increasing the opportunity for policy debates in the House on issues such as peacekeeping, and MPs are engaged in the budget planning process before the budget is presented.
We also promised to change the pension plan for members of parliament to end double dipping, establish a minimum age for entitlement to benefits and cut the cost of the plan by one-third. With all-party support, including my hon. friends in the Reform Party, changes were made last June to maintain the plan's fairness.
I have just mentioned that the government has already made the conflict of interest code public, and I would be happy to send hon. members a copy.
The prime minister also provides personal advice, and just as cabinet deliberations are confidential, just as the advice that bureaucrats give to their ministers and the advice that bureaucrats give to the prime minister and the advice that ministers give to the prime minister is confidential, so too is the personal advice that the prime minister gives to his ministers.
The prime minister provides personal advice on a wide range of government issues. As such, this advice is protected from release under section 69 of the Access to Information Act as a cabinet confidence. Some things in government need to be kept secret. Those that do not should be made public, but some things need to be kept secret.
In this regard, I would note that section 69 states that the Access to Information Act “does not apply to confidences of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada, including records used for reflecting communications or discussions between ministers of the crown on matters relating to the making of government decisions or the formulation of government policy”.
I understand why the workings of cabinet would be foreign to members of the opposition as they have never been in cabinet and are not likely to be in cabinet for a very long time.
However, in passing the Access to Information Act parliament decided that documents which constitute advice from the prime minister to his ministers would be protected.
I would like to take a moment to discuss the important principle of cabinet confidences with my hon. colleagues.
The heart of the Canadian system of government centres around collective responsibility. This means that the government is responsible to parliament and the government must maintain the confidence of the House in order to govern.
But for ministers to fulfill their collective responsibility to parliament and Canadians they must be able to discuss their views frankly and fully.
Cabinet confidentiality allows ministers to debate issues openly among themselves and to concentrate on the objective of our system of government which is taking good policy decisions for the benefit of Canadians.
I note that Canada shares with a number of other foreign jurisdictions, for example the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, provisions similar to those in the Access to Information Act which protect cabinet confidences. That is why the government has responded to Motion No. P-31 by stating “The information sought by the hon. member is considered a confidence of the Queen's Privy Council, and in keeping with Beauchesne's 446(2)(i) and section 69 of the Access to Information Act, I would ask the hon. member to withdraw the motion”.
In conclusion, we are proud of our record on integrity in the government. We have acted to deliver on our promises on integrity and ethics, just like we have acted to deliver on our promises on economic and social issues and national unity. We have made integrity a cornerstone of our government. That is one reason why Canadians chose to re-elect our government in 1997.
The Prime Minister has already tabled a comprehensive conflict of interest code that applies to public office holders, including ministers.
I therefore call on all hon. members to oppose this motion.