Mr. Speaker, I see the hon. member for Thunder Bay—Atikokan is doing double duty tonight so he has good reason to miss his dinner.
A long time ago, on November 17 to be exact, I asked the Minister of Transport about the nominating process for directors of the Halifax Port Authority. At the time I correctly predicted that the board would be purely Liberal and would include Merv Russell who is back in the saddle again as chairman.
The minister then and more recently invoked the principle that all advisory groups are represented. Of course there are board members from various walks of life. It would be pretty hard to avoid that. But they all share one common important qualification, which is that they have their common loyalty to the Liberal Party.
This problem is not just restricted to Halifax. In Vancouver, only two out of five stakeholder nominees were appointed as directors to the new port authority. I guess this conforms to the Liberal definition of devolution of power to the local level.
Looking ahead, the Prince Rupert Port Authority is scheduled to swing into action on about May 1. I fearlessly predict that one Rhoda Witherly, twice defeated Liberal candidate and current chair of the port corporation, will find a safe berth in that harbour. I will not even be surprised if her campaign manager, a Ms. Denton, makes it into the dock as well.
It is well known and clearly understood that in the Liberal lexicon privatization is a synonym for patronage and the creation of these port authorities is a form of privatization. Can the Liberals just occasionally loosen their grip and respect not only the letter but also the spirit of the marine act? It is not too much to ask.
There were some highly qualified candidates bypassed on the Halifax and Vancouver lists. There are some really outstanding people among those being sponsored for Prince Rupert.
I ask the parliamentary secretary, will the government change its longstanding policy and attach some importance to the business and technical qualifications of non-Liberal candidates to this and other boards?