Mr. Speaker, I had occasion to speak earlier to the motions in Group No. 2, and now, like the other members, I will move on to the motions in Group No. 3.
I wonder where the government is headed with Bill C-66. It has decided to go into business abroad. It wants to build low cost housing abroad and probably wants to get into housing development abroad. But is this the role of a government? Must the government not first and foremost defend the interests of Canadians and look after their welfare?
The government, through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, is getting involved in a commercial operation it has no business in. The structure was not designed for that. This was not the intent of Canadians in establishing the CHMC; rather, it was to help Canadians who wanted to acquire a house.
Earlier, when I finished my last intervention, I spoke of the context of the negotiation of world trade agreements, the WTO and all that. My colleague from Trois-Rivières spoke of the government's new mentality with respect to its foreign partners, the famous negotiation with the other provinces on the social union framework agreement. It is proof the federal government is literally going over the provinces' heads and leaving them off to one side in all aspects of the daily lives of Canadians. It is now positioning itself as the only real government for Canadians, and the provinces are being left out in the cold.
That can be seen in Bill C-66, when my colleague from Hochelaga—Maisonneuve proposed amendments to the text of it to permit agreements with the provinces on public housing.
They were, of course, rejected by the committee, and the parliamentary secretary followed the party line on this issue. I wonder if she listened to us. In any case, it does not change anything, because the decisions are made long before anything happens in committee.
I remember when the committee heard witnesses, including GE Capital, on the eve of the clause by clause review of the bill. A document was given to us in English only. I asked that it be translated, because I wanted to read it and make comments. The committee, with the support of the government majority, had already decided which amendments, which changes to the bill would be acceptable or unacceptable, this before even having heard the last witnesses. The hon. member to my left can attest to that, because he was sitting on that committee.
So, this bill was rammed through. We were not given an opportunity to assess its impact on Canadians as regards social housing and housing development. The bill was rammed through.
The member for Kelowna, who spoke before me, alluded to the issue of accountability. With this bill, who is responsible for what? The regulations will no longer be made through an order to the governor in council and notice will no longer be given in part II or III of the Canada Gazette .
Now, everything will be done in secret. This legislation is similar to Bill C-47, Bill C-48 and Bill C-49, in the previous parliament. Former Bill C-84 changed the whole procedure and the responsibility concerning the making of regulations. Now, the government wants to run things informally. This is often a cause for concern. It becomes a real maze. Even the experts will get lost.
Without strict rules, no one will be accountable. Not all ministers will operate the same way. There will come a time when one will overturn another's decision. The reason there were stringent rules for passing regulations was so that the procedure would be clear. Now, all that has gone by the board.
In the name of efficiency, the rules of the game are going to be changed by means of a mere notice on behalf of the minister in the Canada Gazette . A few days later, the regulation will take effect, but no one will comply because it is no longer announced. This is one of the biggest problems with Bill C-66 and as responsible members of this House we cannot go along with it.
Appointments to the board of directors are also a farce. The parliamentary secretary did not go into any detail. I know she is an honest women and I suspect she is quite uncomfortable with this bill, with this way of appointing friends of the regime to the head of a crown corporation. Will the CMHC be audited in future, given that it will be independent of the government per se? It will pay dividends and therefore becomes a crown corporation.
Will it be subject to audit by the Auditor General of Canada? I do not know, but Atomic Energy of Canada Limited is not, nor are a number of crown corporations. Canada Post Corporation is no longer audited by the Auditor General of Canada.
Crown corporations are all exempted from auditing by the Auditor General of Canada. The government says nothing about this. We end up with corporations here and there, as Nav Canada, etc. There are large ones, small ones, corporations of all sizes, but they all have one thing in common: they no longer have a boss.
They are no longer managed by parliament. It does not make decisions for them. Crown corporations make their own decisions and from time to time the minister makes decisions, when relations are good. If things are not going well, the minister does not seem to have much more authority because parliament no longer decides.
This is what is tragic in the current Liberal approach. Literally, they push parliament to the sidelines when the time comes to make decisions and they do so in the name of efficient management. However, efficiency does not justify everything. We cannot bypass parliament in the name of efficiency. We cannot work around parliament in the name of efficiency and cost effectiveness.
This bill reassures no one. For various reasons, Reformers, Bloquists, New Democrats and Progressive Conservatives are against this bill. Not for the same reasons, but it still proves that this bill is flawed. This is what happens when a bill is rammed through and amendments are drafted even before the last witnesses have been heard in committee. This is steamroller democracy.
I cannot support such a bill. It has become a real joke. I see the government member laughing because he knows this bill has become a real joke, but he is paid to do that.