Madam Speaker, this will probably be my last opportunity to wish you well during the summer. I hope all members have a relaxing summer, notwithstanding what some of our constituents might think.
The reason for the motion is quite simple. A lot of members in the House are pretty frustrated with the whole issue of private members' business. I dare say that the frustration opposition members have expressed is probably matched by the frustration government backbench members feel. Indeed I dare say that certain ministers feel somewhat frustrated in their ability to move departmental legislation forward.
The reason is that government is quite a large entity. It takes a great deal of willpower on the part of individual members of parliament, or indeed ministers, to move a government on items of legislation no matter how seemingly simple or obviously correct they may be. We had an example of that just last week.
The motion is well framed. It speaks to a frustration that exists in the House as to the relevance members feel in terms of their role here.
Usually when a bill comes forward the government's easiest response is to say no. It may say the bill would create too many complications. The reasons it gives are sometimes devoid of logic or common sense, but no is the easiest answer. That in turn creates an atmosphere of exasperation which spills over into cheap politics. We say nasty things about one side and it says nasty things about us.
I will break out some of the ideas that are presently on the table and indicate why I think some of the problems exist. One of the problems we must deal with is the dumb idea. I say with the greatest respect that some of the ideas that go through the House affairs and procedure committee are just plain dumb and should not see the light of day.
Some ideas are awkward and create difficulties for the government. That makes life for us on the government backbench somewhat more difficult. I will use the illustration of the private member's bill with respect to tools for mechanics. On the face of it, who could oppose such a bill? It seemed plausible and sensible so why would we not support a bill of that nature?
The government took something of an ambiguous position on that bill and suggested in the end that the bill would favour one class of Canadian taxpayer over another and was therefore not a good thing to do. It then sought to expand the category of person who would benefit from the bill.
Such ideas can also bring us into difficulty on this side because votable motions such as that cost the government moneys in terms of credits or deductions. They therefore limit government revenues and reduce the government's ability to move in other areas it might see as more preferable.
For members opposite that is of somewhat less concern, but for those on this side of the House it is of more concern. That is why I think members on both sides tend to feel frustration. There are no real consequences when a problematic motion goes through the House, costs the government money and leaves it in a very awkward situation.
The question is always how members on both sides of the House will take responsibility for what they are doing. As I say, for members opposite there are no serious consequences. For members on this side, however, there are serious consequences. Ultimately we end up in a situation where we are intellectually lazy and do not weigh all the benefits. When we are uninformed we frankly tend to make poor decisions.
I appreciate that the so-called Kilger commission has done some work on this. Every member believes that his or her ideas are the best and should be votable. My idea of course is also quite brilliant and should be votable. I am going through a level of frustration right now with my bill before the committee. I have basically five minutes to convince some of my colleagues that my bill should be votable.
My bill is very simple. It deals with fire safe cigarettes. The industry has known for years how to make cigarette paper less porous and tobacco less dense, the result of which is a fire safe cigarette. If it is dropped on furniture it meets certain flammability tests and the whole place does not burn down. The irony is that had that legislation been in place a number of years ago this building would not have burned down.
Such legislation has been adopted by New York state unanimously so that cigarettes cannot be manufactured, sold or distributed in that state without meeting certain flammability standards.
The response I get from the minister and the government is that we cannot do it for a variety of unacceptable reasons. Needless to say, I think my idea is quite brilliant, and I have unanimous consent from those behind the curtains. The chance of my bill actually seeing the light of day is pretty remote.
That is the frustration that all of us face. Setting aside dumb ideas and setting aside the problematic ones, even very good ideas have some difficulty getting out of committee and on to the floor of the House to be debated in some sort of reasonable fashion.
In the way the system is presently structured the determination of votability is based on things that quite frankly are irrelevant to the bill. We end up lapsing into some sort of political speak, whereby members on the government side do not worry about embarrassing the government and members opposite worry that the only good thing is an embarrassed government.
My bill will have some difficulties getting out of committee, not on the basis of whether it is a brilliant bill, a good bill or a bad bill, but on the basis of irrelevant political considerations.
That kind of thing turns Canadians off. They send us here and expect us to be legislators. They have good reason to question how we can be legislators if we set up a system of inertia which prevents good ideas bubbling up and being made available for the benefit of all Canadians.
Hon. members will be considering the motion, which I think is supportable. As it goes forward and returns to consideration by committee, the system should be given some modification. One possible modification might be that each member, once during the life of a parliament, gets an opportunity to insist that his or her bill be votable regardless of whether the committee thinks it should be votable.
It does not mean that members cannot have other bills before committee. It does not mean they cannot argue before committee that they be votable, but they have the opportunity to decide unilaterally.