Mr. Speaker, as I indicated in my remarks, we are talking about aggregated information. We are talking about audited financial statements. I do not believe there is anything that will harm any proprietary business interests in doing so.
This legislation is seeking to simply provide to first nations members that same accountability, that same transparency that is provided to all other Canadians.
It is very troubling to me and very difficult for me to understand why the opposition would see any reason to oppose that very basic accountability and transparency. That is the hallmark of democracy. It is something that has been very important to our government and certainly something that has been well documented and indicated in our actions as a government. Bringing forward the Federal Accountability Act, as our first act, is a very clear example of that.
It is just very unfortunate that the opposition would feel that first nations members should not have that same accountability and transparency, and the very same basic democracy that is expected for all other Canadians. It is very troubling to me.