Mr. Speaker, we have heard from most members regarding Bill C-13, a bill to establish the Canadian institutes of health research and to repeal the Medical Research Council Act.
We have heard from member after member on this side the frustration at the committee level concerning the bill. Many of us, myself included, have put forward amendments. I have put forward two dozen amendments. The frustration comes from the fact that the government does not want to listen to the opposition to make this a better piece of legislation.
The member who just spoke, the health critic for that party, alluded to the frustration. It is legislation which we could all embrace. We could support it. What we are attempting to do as opposition members is to improve the legislation, but we get the sense from government members that they want the legislation now. They will not entertain amendments, unless they happen to be put forward by government members, over which they have absolute control. The government's position is not to listen to the opposition, that the opposition should not tell the government what should be in the bill.
That is where this whole exercise falls flat. None of us in the House wants to be seen as running in the face of the legislation because it is long overdue.
We are simply modelling what has been done in the United States and most European countries for the last 25 years. We are about 25 years behind the times in setting up these institutes for research. We do not have a whole lot to be proud of. We have a whole lot of ground that we have to gain if we want to be competitive in terms of medical research with the rest of the world, so let us get on with it.
Again, it goes back to the frustration of the Liberals not listening to what we are saying in terms of how we can strengthen the legislation. Let me give the House an example. This is the way we have always done things in this place, especially the Prime Minister. We will go through the makeup of the institutes, how the board is created, who picks the people to sit on the board and who will determine what institutes we will have, because as we speak we do not know. The president of the Canadian institutes of health research shall be appointed by the governor in council to hold office during pleasure for a term of not more than five years.
When we hear the term governor in council it simply means that the Prime Minister of Canada will appoint the president of the council as he appoints senators. We have heard just about everyone in the House from time to time rail on about the appointments of senators, how they happen and how they might be improved. Here we go again. The Prime Minister will determine who the president of the council will be. Not only that, each of the 20 members on the governing council will again be appointed by the Prime Minister of Canada.
Why would the government not consider rejigging that formula? It is very obvious the government wants absolute control as to how this will be set up, how it will run and who will be the boss. At the end of the day it will be the Prime Minister of Canada determining the agenda for this council. In my opinion and in the opinion of many members on this side of the House it will be he who will have absolute control. That is why the government will not entertain any sense of change in how these councils will be set up, how the president is appointed or how they will conduct business.
Unfortunately, the government has the opposition in a corner on this one, because just about every think tank, every university, every research institution in this country wants us to move on and get this thing on the road, as do we. The frustration, of course, comes from the fact that the government will not listen to anything which might slightly rejig the formula.
The Prime Minister has been around this place longer than any other member of parliament. When he was in opposition he would rail on about these types of appointments taking place in this country, whether he was talking about a board, a council or the Senate of Canada. Only when he takes office does the tune change. I do not think he is going to change in terms of how these institutes will work and how these appointments will be made.
Talk about arrogance. The Minister of Health is criss-crossing the country under the old health research council, giving away money, grants, as if this bill had already passed, knowing full well that it has not. It is an insult to this Chamber, to this institution called parliament. The Liberals are assuming this bill is going to be passed and they are assuming it is going to be passed post-haste.
I would suggest that something is wrong with the formula, and this is the place where it has to change.
This bill is good news for Canada, with the exception of who is calling the shots. Unfortunately there is a political overtone to this bill which I do not like. I think it is incumbent upon the Prime Minister and those who sit on his side of the House to say a word or two on this issue of appointments and how these institutes will be guided in the work they will do over the next number of years.
There are over 50 amendments to the bill. The government has simply decided to railroad us, forget about the opposition, forget about anything that might improve this bill. It simply wants to get the bill passed. We are suggesting that we could pass a better bill.
The government has the opportunity to listen to the opposition in the Chamber. Many of the amendments were discussed at committee, but were voted down by members of the government. However, now we are in a bigger, wider forum where Canadians will have a chance to hear us debate the bill.
I would suggest that the government take us seriously, take a look at the makeup of these institutes and consider some of the amendments that we have put forward in terms of the selection process.
This is reminiscent of the Liberal way of doing things. The Liberals, with this legislation, have stolen page for page, clause by clause, from the very platform which this party ran on in 1997. If we look at what Mr. Charest was talking about in his platform in 1997 we would find that the Liberals have basically modelled these institutes on what we were suggesting. That is not new for the Liberals, is it? They adopt the ideas of other parties, claim them for their own and back off only when they have to.
Let us get on with it and continue to engage in debate. I would like the government to take seriously a number of our amendments before we give our approval to pass this legislation through the House.