Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the chance to speak to the motion which calls upon the government to accept the recommendations contained in the House procedures committee report dealing with a review of the estimates. It is particularly gratifying since the review of the estimates is a key function of parliament.
However, as members know, finding an effective way of doing this often has proven to be a thorny issue for parliamentarians. It involves two vital principles that are difficult to reconcile, namely the need for government to have its request for funds dealt with by specific dates, thus allowing for the efficient administrative operation of the state, and the need for members to examine these requests in sufficient detail to ensure that taxpayer money is being spent wisely.
As parliamentarians our goal must be to balance these interests and to provide for adequate efficiency and oversight. The recommendations contained in the report are but one example of proposals tabled in the House aimed at resolving this issue.
I acknowledge the work of members of the House who have examined the issue. However simply rubber stamping all the recommendations as the motion suggests does not recognize the complexity and importance of the review process. It requires that we take a thoughtful approach to the issue.
We need to approach with some caution the report recommendation which calls for the establishment of an estimates committee charged with reviewing all estimates, particularly since existing committees have already been doing this work. According to the report such a system would allow for better review. Members would be able to devote themselves more fully to important functions and they would acquire a greater understanding of the supply process.
While it is a very appealing prospect, we know the devil is often in the details. It is not clear how this would be achieved. One way might be to ask some members to serve on more than one committee. However such an approach clearly has its problems. It would mean asking members who already are stretched to the limit participating in debates, attending caucus meetings, serving on committees and taking care of constituent needs to take on yet another responsibility.
Another idea might be to assign fewer members to existing standing committees in order to find the members needed. This also has its problems. It would mean depriving existing committees of the people needed to properly conduct their work.
How many times have we heard that we should be strengthening our committee structure? Having one committee consider estimates instead of letting all members review them could result in our losing the input and insights of parliamentarians who have indepth knowledge of individual departments. Such a situation would damage our ability to fulfill our responsibilities.
It is impossible to assess a department's spending estimates without first having a good idea of its performance, goals, priorities and knowledge which a number of members have acquired as a result of many years of experience. We need to recognize that a number of other benefits flow from the current system under which estimates are reviewed by the House and by committees charged with specific policy areas.
For example, it would encourage members to see the bigger picture. The current situation allows members to be able to connect the individual questions of budget with the overall policy issues involved.
While there is much good in our current estimate approach all of us agree there is room for improvement. That is why the House modernization committee made a number of recommendations aimed at increasing the role of the House and reviewing government spending plans.
Among them was a proposal that the House consider two sets of estimates each year. This would allow all members to continue to review estimates, provide a high profile televised reminder of the role that members have in granting funds to the government, and we all know how much we like that, and permit the House to benefit from the input of members with indepth knowledge of specific policy areas.
The adoption of this recommendation in the House would go a long way to improving how parliamentarians deal with the business of supply. Rather than pushing willy-nilly into improving these proposals we should allow ourselves to benefit from the new estimates review process which we have adopted.
Only then would we be able to do the best possible job of evaluating if further changes were warranted. If providing efficient government while at the same time ensuring proper accountability and saving taxpayer money is our goal, we have already gone a long way toward improving that process.
I will not be supporting the motion. Nevertheless I remain committed to working with all members of the House on these important issues, especially at the committee level. It is only by working together that we can find the right balance between promoting efficient government with efficient government procedures and holding departments accountable for the wise use of taxpayer money.