Mr. Speaker, it is true that all organizations take on the culture of their leadership. It does not matter whether it is one's own home or business or in this case the Parliament of Canada.
The culture that has been developed here over the last several years is not one that rewards initiative, outspokenness, newness or new creative ideas. It just does not reward that. In fact it penalizes that.
I will quote what Gordon Gibson said in an article about the powers that are already in this place and vested with the Prime Minister:
The Prime Minister of Canada has the powers of a despot, to a degree unmatched anywhere else in the developed world. He or she appoints the head of state, and the heads of the military and national police. The PM appoints the political and the permanent heads of all government departments, plus the governor of the Bank of Canada and all senators. He or she appoints all of the judges of the supreme court who interpret the constitution, plus all other important judges, and the heads and most members of all significant boards, commissions and crown corporations.
The PM writes or approves all legislation, directs or approves all tax and expenditure decisions, approves or controls chairs of committees and the actions of committees and even the office space and the boondoggle-type travel of MPs. He or she calls elections at a time of unilateral choosing, and then has a veto (by law) over whether this or that MP can run again. Some countries have what they call “iron triangles” of power. We have a fully closed circle.
The problem is the culture. The culture is that if one speaks out, to quote the chair of our caucus, it is like that whack a gopher game at the fair. If someone puts his head up to say that he would like some change, the Prime Minister smacks that gopher right into the basement. If a little while later another brave soul peeks his head out and says that he would like to have more independence on committee, he is driven into the twilight zone. That is the problem. The culture is to do as one is told, take the orders and do not rock the boat. That is the problem.
The culture is never going to change under the Prime Minister. I have a great deal of respect for him for some things. He has been here for 40 years. However in a sense his strength is also his weakness. He is so cautious and worried about what might happen that change is unthinkable.
That culture has been developed over many years. People in the organization over there understand the culture. They do not rock the boat. They do not speak out aggressively. They do not buck the big guy. And if they do, he can refuse to sign their nomination papers. They will not get an important job or they will be taken away from an important job. There are important committees just begging for people like that, such as the Library of Parliament and a couple of others that meet once a year.
That is the truth and that is the problem. It is a cultural problem. It is going to take a change of government to break that. Until people start to believe that what they do here matters and they get the gumption to stand up and say it is important that they speak out, then nothing will change. That is unfortunate. It affects the type of people who can be recruited into this place. People sometimes wonder why we cannot get people with a big long pedigree of involvement in community service or extensive business background or NGO experience. Those people look on and say, “What is the point? I am more influential over here in my organization than I would be as a member of parliament”.
Those of us who fight for parliamentary reform fight because we want members of parliament to matter. We want them to count. I think of the former leader of the Reform Party who has basically said that he is going to retire at the end of this calendar year. Why? He is a person dedicated to reform and I do not just mean big R reform, I am talking about changes, someone who breaks the mould, who steps outside the status quo.
He has basically said that he can have more influence championing his position as the head of a university department and that he could have more influence on the course of action in the House of Commons by being a provocative speaker for the Fraser Institute. He has said that he could have a bigger impact if he were free to speak his mind, and free from the constraints of this place, as a regular editorial writer in national publications.
What a loss for this place that a man of that calibre feels so constrained by the petty games that go on in this place that he would take his interest and his love for this place and for parliamentary reform and democratic representative government, his passion for that subject, and say that frankly he has to move on. What a loss that he would say he has given 10 years of his life to it and it is time to ply his trade in other circles because he has concluded, like too many other good men and women, that it is more effective to be outside pressuring in instead of inside fomenting change from here.
That happens because of a culture, and the culture is that the leader is always right. Second rule? Look at the first rule. That is the problem and it will never change until we get somebody sitting in the Prime Minister's Office who says that he or she wants to involve members of parliament, that he or she has enough respect for this place that important decisions, announcements, legislation and so on are made here, not at Liberal fundraisers, not on Larry King Live , not at a press conference where there is the possibility of winning votes at a special conference of some NGO group, or not as happened a few years ago when a minister, and, Mr. Speaker, you will remember my point of privilege, went over to China and announced the creation of a Canada-China friendship group. He had no authority to do that. Those groups are creations of parliament and he announced, as a minister in another land, that parliament had approved something of which we had never even been apprised.
Until we break that culture, we will continue down the path that says it is my way or the highway, and important decisions, important innovative ideas and representing one's constituents will take third, fourth or fifth row seats behind loyalty to the leader and to the Liberal Party of Canada.