Mr. Speaker, in a statement made yesterday, the member for Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik attacked the government of Quebec for wanting to control lobbying activities.
Quebec's legislation on lobbying, which will be among the most progressive and binding in the world, will establish a position of ethics counsellor, who will be appointed by the National Assembly and accountable to the National Assembly, which is what the Bloc Quebecois has been calling for in Ottawa since the Liberals have been plagued by scandals and which, incidentally, was part of a bill that I introduced last June.
The Liberals will respond that they did create an ethics counsellor position, but it is an ethics counsellor with no real investigative powers, who is paid by and accountable to the Prime Minister alone. Despite their rhetoric, the legislative and regulatory framework that exists in Ottawa still allows for patronage, a skill the Liberals have mastered with flair.
When the member for Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik stated that “the reality is not so grand”, he should have been referring to the situation in Ottawa. When will we get an ethics counsellor who is credible, objective, transparent and, most importantly, accountable to parliament?