Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise to debate the amendment to what is actually my motion. This motion seeks to have the government release the results of the 1911 census and by implication every census thereafter. I have spoken to the principle of the motion in the first hour of debate and will not reiterate. Rather I will address briefly the amendment brought before us by the hon. member for Ottawa Centre.
I note with some dismay the remarks of my itinerate colleague from South Shore who for some reason apparently supports the motion but saw some reason to criticize its mover for not having participated in the debate. I am here tonight to participate in the debate. I was here during the first hour and I was here at every stage in this debate. I think in private members' hour that kind of apparently petty partisanship is uncalled for. I am as partisan as anyone when it is called for, but certainly not when we are discussing matters of this nature. I found that regrettable.
The hon. member for Ottawa Centre seeks to amend this motion by changing the words “the government should take” to “the government should consider taking”. I object strenuously.
Millions of Canadians have an interest in this matter although they may not yet realize it. Certainly tens of thousands have a very acute interest in the passage of the motion. Genealogists, archivists, librarians, researchers and historians through many personal and organized representations to their representatives and to this place have asked for the government to release the 1911 archives for the census of that year.
It was principally as a result of those representations that I brought forward the motion. I thought these archivists, genealogists and so on had made a very reasonable case that the release of these documents would be well within what would be very conventional and would not violate privacy rights or undertakings on the part of the government.
I brought a motion which would suggest that the government should take this action. Let us be honest and frank about it. This is how it works. Government members have been deluged with mail on the issue like all other members from people concerned about the issue asking for the release of these documents. It has become a political concern for them.
I suspect that many of these members have received dozens of letters and communications asking for their support of this motion or action of this nature to be taken. It has become a small but not insignificant political concern for them. Undoubtedly many of these members intended to vote in favour of my motion that the government should take this action and release these census documents.
I am sure this is what happened. The Minister of Industry is responsible for the oversight of Statistics Canada and the archives. Undoubtedly his office realized that the motion could be somewhat embarrassing for the government because he clearly had no intention of taking decisive action on the matter.
Rather, the Minister of Industry appointed a committee to delay, a panel of experts, which is a typical government procedure, to study the issue into the ground probably at least until after the election so that my hon. colleagues opposite could tell all the genealogists and local historians in their ridings not to worry in that the government was considering the matter and in the fullness of time and at the earliest opportunity would release the archived documents.
No doubt they were planning to do that with the committee to delay. This motion comes along and suddenly forces them, heaven forbid, to actually confront the issue, especially because it has been deemed votable.
The minister says that the government has to come up with some way to water this thing down so that it is not obliged to take any sort of action at all, but instead can continue to delay the release of these census documents and denude this as a political issue for the backbench government members. That is exactly what has happened. Let us be grown-ups about this.
I strenuously object to the motion which would require that the government consider taking action. The government can consider taking action on anything, anytime. This amendment renders this motion meaningless.
I want to clearly put on the record that this will not serve as an adequate loincloth, if you will, for government members who hope to go back to their ridings and tell their constituents interested in access to this important historical information that they voted in favour of this motion, that they voted in favour of the release of these census documents. That is not true.
This is an disingenuous motion designed to cloud the issue for those with an interest in obtaining these records. It is a somewhat underhanded effort on the part of the government to prevent the House from actually reflecting the interests and concerns of their constituents. It is a very simple matter, but the government and the minister want to maintain a stranglehold on this information. He does not want the House, its members or, heaven forbid, his own members representing their constituents deciding that this archival information should be released from the 1911 census. He wants his department and his bureaucrats to be able to make this decision. That is why this amendment has come forward from a government member tonight.
I just say to my colleagues opposite and everyone else that this completely dilutes the meaningfulness of the motion. I would ask members to please vote against the amendment and support the original motion which has stronger language and which creates at least a strong sense of the House. Even if my motion passes unamended, it will not force the government to take action. It will merely give a strong sense of the will of the House. That is what private members' motions are intended for. Let us use that procedure properly. We get very few votable private members' motions. Let us use this one to actually represent our constituents in a non-partisan fashion. Instead of protecting the minister's hide and his committee to delay, let us vote against the amendment and support the original motion, as no doubt most members would be inclined to do.