Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to rise today to speak on the motion originally put forward this morning by the Bloc, which states:
That, in the opinion of this House, government appointments of ambassadors, consuls general and heads of regulatory bodies and Crown corporations should automatically be referred to the appropriate committee of the House of Commons for consideration, and that the relevant Standing Orders of the House of Commons should be amended accordingly.
I understand that the motion has had an amendment moved to it which was accepted this morning and which would have the appointments referred before they are made final. Regardless of the amendment, as the hon. House leader explained earlier today, the Bloc's motion would actually weaken the Standing Orders, as it would exclude a number of appointments from being considered in Parliament.
Today's debate allows us to highlight these important procedures in the Standing Orders, as these procedures support our role as parliamentarians in holding our governments to account.
As was mentioned earlier today, these rules in the Standing Orders originated with the McGrath report of 1985. As hon. members are aware, the McGrath committee was an excellent all party committee that proposed substantial changes for the House of Commons. Many of the recommendations of the McGrath report have been adopted, to the benefit of all members of the House.
With respect to the scrutiny of government appointments, the procedures under our current Standing Orders are consistent with the recommendations of the McGrath report. The McGrath committee clearly struggled with this issue, as it noted that this issue was by far the most difficult of all the subjects the committee considered. The committee noted that during its hearings it asked many witnesses about scrutinizing order in council appointments. The report stated:
All agreed it was a difficult problem for both members and ministers, but none came up with any positive suggestions as to how we might proceed.
The McGrath committee set out four principles that guided its recommendations on the role of Parliament with government appointments: that the primary purpose of a nomination procedure is to seek the best possible people; that it is important that the public see appointments as more than simply political patronage; that there are good reasons for excluding certain appointments from any political scrutiny; and, that some appointments warrant different degrees of scrutiny.
I believe that these are very sound principles and that they are as relevant today as they were in 1985. The McGrath committee also rejected adopting the American model, where Senate confirmations are used for appointments. The committee rejected this approach since it has the potential of becoming a media and partisan circus and some qualified candidates would be discouraged from accepting public office because of the confirmation process.
For those members who are calling for the American model to be adopted in Canada, I would ask them to be cautious with such an approach, just as the McGrath committee was, as we do not wish to politicize our senior government appointments.
Turning back to the McGrath report, the committee focused on the following types of appointments: deputy ministers, heads of crown corporations, heads of regulatory agencies, House of Commons officers, and agents of Parliament such as the Auditor General or the privacy commissioner. In all cases and for all appointments, the recommendations of the McGrath committee were consistent: that appointments are to be tabled in the House of Commons, providing committees the authority to review the appointments. The one recommendation that was slightly different concerned the appointments to regulatory agencies. The committee noted that there was little executive control over these agencies and a certain amount of distance between the agencies and the ministers was necessary. The committee recommended that only appointments of nominees to the following agencies should be tabled: the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, the Canadian Transportation Agency and the National Energy Board.
As the House is aware, the Standing Orders we currently have are consistent with the recommendations of the McGrath committee. These reforms recommended by the McGrath committee were consistent as well with the other recommendations on empowering members of Parliament.
Today's motion put forward by the Bloc is consistent with the intent of the recommendations of the McGrath committee. The Bloc's motion is also consistent with the current Standing Orders. Fortunately our Standing Orders are even more comprehensive than what the Bloc has proposed today, but today's debate at least allows us to highlight this important feature of our parliamentary procedure which supports the role of the House in holding the government to account. The Standing Orders already cover appointments and the Bloc motion is not acceptable as it would politicize the system even more.