Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to rise in support of the bill put forward by the hon. member for Repentigny. It is important that he brought the bill forward today because Bill C-277 really touches the heart of why we are here. We are in this place to manage the finances of our federal government effectively and to make sure that taxpayers across this country, all Canadians, are aware that their money is being managed effectively.
I also congratulate the member for Repentigny because Bill C-277 is similar to a motion that I brought forward in the House on November 1:
That, in the opinion of the House, the government should appoint the Auditor General as the external auditor of foundations, with a few exceptions, and ensure that adequate mechanisms are in place for a broad scope audit of all delegated arrangements.
The motion that I brought forward in the House is similar to the bill that thankfully the member for Repentigny has brought forward today. It is extremely important. His bill goes beyond the scope of my motion and deals with crown corporations and foundations in an effective way.
We know very well that this is a fundamental issue. It is an issue because the Auditor General has flagged it, as we know. She said, “Substantial amounts of public money have been transferred to foundations”. In her press release in 2002, which I will come back to as part of her report a bit later on, the Auditor General mentioned that she was “concerned by the limits placed on Parliament's ability to scrutinize them”. She has raised this question of foundations.
She also mentioned in her 2002 report that her audit found: “significant gaps and weaknesses in the design of delegated arrangements”; that there were “limits on what the Auditor General can look at”, which prevents the Office of the Auditor General from giving Parliament proper assurance that the use of federal funds and authorities was appropriate; that the “parking of billions of dollars of the public's money in foundations, years before it is to flow to the intended recipients” was something that occurred systematically.
Her report also indicated that there was “little recourse” for the government when things went wrong and unfortunately also “limited opportunity for Parliament to scrutinize these delegated arrangements”.
Very clearly the Auditor General has flagged the issue of foundations and, in a broader sense, crown corporation moneys that are paid by Canadians across the country and are set aside and outside her scrutiny. We know with a great deal of assurance that Canadians support the Office of the Auditor General and the task she takes on with ardour and professionalism to make sure we know that the money being spent through the federal government is being spent effectively.
I was very happy to learn this week that the efforts of the opposition parties in three corners of the House to fight to eliminate the withholding of $11.5 million in funding for next year for the Office of the Auditor General has been successful. That is another sign that this four-cornered House with four parties working together can help to resolve issues. It is unfortunate that the government chose to withhold that funding. Fortunately, due to opposition pressure, that funding is now being allocated to the Office of the Auditor General. Fortunately now she is not forced to lay off 85 of her employees. It was unfortunate that the government did not confirm this earlier, but again, opposition pressure made a difference.
We have talked about financial mismanagement. There are a lot of examples. We could talk about the $9.1 billion that is dropped into unaccountable foundations. Very fortunately, Bill C-277 would help us to start address that important issue. There is also the $46 billion employment insurance surplus, which we have talked about and which literally was made on the backs of workers and communities across the country.
We also know that the Liberal government consistently underestimates the budget balance. That is a total of $86 billion. Also, other speakers have referred to the sponsorship scandal, which is in the order of $250 million.
On the one hand, we have seen the mismanagement of funds from hard-working Canadian taxpayers across the country, funds that are being paid to the federal government in order to ensure that we build a better quality of life for all of us. On the other hand, we are seeing a situation in my area, for example, where homelessness has tripled.
Child poverty is not being reduced but is actually increasing. It is shameful that this is happening at a time when there is a budget surplus. In my community St. Mary's Hospital was closed this year, a hospital that was important and badly needed. Due to federal government cutbacks and bad decisions by the provincial government, we have seen the closure of that hospital.
We talk about the EI surplus and at the same time there is unemployment. Families are having a hard time making things meet because the social safety net is no longer there. There is growing child poverty and yet we have a surplus and there are corporate tax cuts.
We see this dysfunction between resources that should be available to all Canadians and how those funds are allocated. That is why I welcome the measure by the member of Parliament for Repentigny, to start to address that so that we know what is happening with every dollar that Canadians pay to the federal government.
Earlier I made reference to the 2002 report. I would like to come back to that for a moment. It is the issue around the financial accountability of some of these foundations. The 2002 Report of the Auditor General made reference to a number of these foundations and made reference as well to whether or not there was the overseeing of these foundations through the House and the Office of the Auditor General.
For example, on Genome Canada, the Auditor General mentioned in the 2002 report that there was no ministerial direction and action. There was no departmental audit and evaluation.
For the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences, there was no reporting of expected performance to Parliament. There was no reporting of performance results to Parliament, no reporting of audited financial statements to Parliament, no reporting of evaluation results to Parliament, no strategic monitoring, and again, no ministerial direction and action and no departmental audit and evaluation.
For the Canada Foundation for Sustainable Development Technology there was no ministerial direction and action.
For the Green Municipal Investment Fund and the Green Municipal Enabling Fund, there was no reporting of expected performance to Parliament, no reporting of audited financial statements to Parliament, no reporting of evaluation results to Parliament, and no ministerial direction and action.
For Canada Health Infoway Inc. there was no reporting of expected performance to Parliament, no reporting of performance results to Parliament, no reporting of audited financial statements to Parliament, no strategic monitoring, no ministerial direction and action, and no departmental audit and evaluation.
These are issues that have been raised, thankfully by the Office of the Auditor General. Clearly, as one of the other members mentioned, accountability and good financial management are extremely important to all Canadians, to all taxpayers, and should be important to all parliamentarians. We welcome Bill C-277 because it effectively starts to address the issue of lack of oversight.
In conclusion, thanks to the hon. member for Repentigny, we have a bill that will begin to address all these problems that exist outside of government initiatives and that are currently being assessed by the Office of the Auditor General.
Indeed, in adopting this bill, we will increase the Parliament's scope for action as well as financial accountability, which is so important to Canadians.
I fully support this bill and I know we will have the opportunity to improve it at committee.
I salute the hon. member for Repentigny for this initiative and hope all the members of the House will support it.