House of Commons photo

Crucial Fact

  • His favourite word was particular.

Last in Parliament November 2005, as Conservative MP for Kelowna (B.C.)

Won his last election, in 2004, with 48% of the vote.

Statements in the House

Canadian Automobile Association November 2nd, 2004

Mr. Speaker, I rise to welcome representatives of the Canadian Automobile Association. The CAA is a traffic safety advocate that works with public officials, media, motorists and the general public on such important issues as school safety patrols, the safety of child car seats and seat belts, and of course safer roads and highways.

Much of our daily routine and economic activity involves the use of vehicles travelling on a network of roads and highways that need to be maintained and upgraded for the safety of the travelling public. The CAA remains committed to these traffic safety goals and is here to remind us of the need for appropriate funding of our highway infrastructure on which so much of our lives depend.

Better roads and highways will provide Canadians with economic, environmental and safety benefits. I congratulate the CAA for its continued diligence on behalf of drivers, motorists and the travelling public.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply October 20th, 2004

Madam Speaker, I was really rather surprised that the hon. member who just spoke in answer to another question said that Quebec is a “nation”. I wonder if the member could define what he means by nation. There are different ways, I suppose, in which we can define nation, but I thought Quebec was a province of Canada and I thought Canada was a federation of all the provinces working together.

He also made the observation that Quebec takes nothing from the rest of Canada. I would like to ask him, then, about what has happened over the years where that cooperative element has in fact worked, where indeed the tax structure has created situations where there may have been a fiscal imbalance, and I am sure there is, but the fact still remains that Quebec was a beneficiary of certain financial agreements and arrangements that exist within Canada.

Could the member explain a little more clearly exactly what he means by Quebec being a nation?

Petitions May 12th, 2004

Mr. Speaker, a number of petitioners from my constituency pray that Parliament maintain Canada's multilateral approach to security and reaffirm this country's support for non-proliferation arms control and disarmament and that it reject any and all plans for weapons and war in space, including plans for missile defence. They seek Canada's withdrawal from any discussion or participation in missile defence and the weaponization of space.

Budget Implementation Act, 2004 May 4th, 2004

Mr. Speaker, I want to approach the debate on Bill C-30 from a slightly different perspective than what we have had so far this afternoon and this morning. I want to approach it from three points of view. First, setting the tone from the top; second, some useful concepts to look at evaluating the management of government; and finally, the re-use of single use medical devices.

When it comes to setting the tone from the top, one has to pay special tribute to our Auditor-General. She has given a tone to this particular report that is very exemplary. There have been two reports. It is absolutely superb the way in which she has approached the evaluation and the management of certain government programs.

I would like to talk about setting the tone from the top. The top of course is the Prime Minister. There are various management consultants who have talked about leadership and management from the top, and the significance of the top in terms of an organization and its management.

One of these special consultants who works very heavily in this field is a fellow by the name of John C. Maxwell. He did an interview with Don Stephenson, who is the chairman of Global Hospitality Resources, Inc. Global Hospitality Resources, Inc. is called in by companies in the recreation and hotel area that are in financial difficulty to see if there is something that can be salvaged.

Here is what the interview results were. Don Stephenson said whenever there was a take over of an organization, two things were always done. First, all the staff were trained to improve their level of service to the customers; and second, the leader was fired. When he told me that, I was at first surprised. “You always fire the leader?” I asked. He said every time. I asked if he did not talk to the person first to check him out to see if he was a good leader. He answered no, if he had been a good leader, the organization would not be in the mess it was in. That was a very interesting comment.

As Mr. Maxwell says, this is an illustration of the law of the lid. The law of the lid states that leadership ability is always the lid on personal and organizational effectiveness. If the leadership is strong, the lid is high; however, if it is not, then the organization is limited. That is why, according to Maxwell, in times of trouble organizations naturally look for new leadership. When a country is experiencing hard times, it elects a new prime minister.

In Canada, the actual administration and operation of the management of the government's affairs is carried out by the Treasury Board. It plays a key role in developing and fixing the government's management, really refining and developing the management agenda and overseeing its government wide implementation.

We are speaking about the implementation of the budget. The budget is probably the single most significant policy document that an organization or government can ever put together and finally adopt.

In managing the government, the Auditor General provided some very useful concepts. In fact, she listed seven of them. I want to read them into the record because they are very significant. They are found in chapter 7 of the March 2004 Auditor General's report and they are:

Probity--The adherence to the highest principles and ideals.

Prudence--Skill and good judgment in the use of resources.

Economy--Getting the right amount of resources, of the right quality, delivered at the right time and place, at the lowest cost.

Efficiency--The minimum resources used to achieve a given quantity and quality of output.

Effectiveness--The extent to which the outcomes of an activity match the objective or the intended effects of that activity.

Transparency--Operating in a manner that is clear and easy to understand.

Accountability--The obligation to render an account, and accept responsibility for, one's actions, both in terms of the results obtained and the means used.

Let us examine this budget and some of the implementation practices that the government has used in applying these concepts.

Probity is the adherence to the highest principles and ideals. It would appear to me that one of the ways in which one can see evidence of probity being used in the management of government affairs would be to have the highest principles and ideals. One of them clearly would be to follow the rules that are there to be used by the bureaucrats. Guess what the Auditor General had to say? She said that virtually every rule in the book was broken on this ad scam program. Clearly that one did not work.

Prudence is the skill and good judgment in the use of resources. I cannot help but look at this in terms of the subsidies that are given to industry. One really asks the question, what is it that government does when it selects certain kinds of industries for subsidy and not others? In fact, one of the critics of this particular program asked and I quote:

I don't know why governments pick one industry to subsidize over another.

This is from a National Bank financial analyst, Steve Laciak. He further said:

They won't rule against steel imports being dumped into Canada, so you wind up watching Stelco, Ivaco and Slater Steel go bankrupt.

On the other hand, other ones are picked and given billions of dollars. Of course, the most recent one here is the one that came up yesterday, Rolls Royce and $30 million, and very closely allied to that is of course Bombardier, which has been getting this money for years.

John Williamson of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation said, of Bombardier, and I quote:

--we need to lower taxes to compete internationally, we'd be right there behind him.

I agree with that. He rejected outright the idea of creating more programs like Technology Partnerships Canada. He said:

Anyone who thinks TPC should be expanded should have his head examined. That program has been a total disaster and has only gotten a small fraction back--

I think the issue here is very clear. Subsidies given to certain kinds of industries mean that taxpayers' money is taken from other industries who also pay taxes. The government says that it will take our money now and it will give it to this other industry, which means that the burden falls on this group, and the other group actually gets the benefit.

If that is a wise use of resources, if that is prudence, and if that is skill in the management of resources, I think there is a very strong difference of opinion.

Economy is getting the right amount of resources, of the right quality, delivered at the right time and place, at the lowest cost.I wonder if there is anyone in the audience who would recognize or remember the firearms registry? How effective was that particular program? It was a billion dollars and now going beyond that. People are asking themselves, is it now going to get more money from this budget? Is that really an economical use of taxpayers' money?

Efficiency means the minimum resources used to achieve a given quantity and quality of output.We have the secret unity fund and we ask ourselves, what is it supposed to accomplish? If we do not know what it is supposed to accomplish, how could we ever measure whether in fact it is doing that. The HRDC boondoggle is another example.

Transparency is operating in a manner that is clear and easy to understand.We found that our Prime Minister who did own CSL, Canada Steamship Lines, actually found that there was $136,000 given to the company, only to discover later that it was actually a hundred million dollars plus. If it was really so transparent, then why was it that it was not known?

Finally, accountability, which is the obligation to render an account, and accept responsibility for, one's actions, both in terms of the results obtained and the means used.

One then has to draw attention to the fact that we had in the Department of National Defence some $160 million plus that was fraudulently billed because nothing happened. There was $160 million paid and nobody could figure out what it was paid for. That is not accountability.

One has to evaluate these and ask, from these examples alone, were these seven concepts or ways of evaluating things actually observed? Was there direction from the top that clearly said the highest principles and ideals would be observed in the management of our affairs and in the expenditure of taxpayers' money?

One has to conclude that this particular budget does not do that. The government has not done that. We have to ask, how likely is it that the government will manage $187 billion using these seven concepts? I would suggest that probably the answer is, no it will not.

I want to go now to the third point that has to do with the single use of medical devices and the reuse of single use medical devices. I am not an expert in this particular field so I am going to be reading in rather complete detail what has been said.

What kind of devices are we talking about?

Single use devices that come into contact with blood or normally sterile body cavities by penetrating the skin or mucous membrane, such as cardiac catheters or urinary catheters.

The reuse of single use devices is different from the reuse of devices designed for multiple uses because single use devices were not intended to be reused. Thus, their reuse creates a number of potential risks that include poor functioning after multiple uses or reprocessing, as well as concerns about sterilizing and disinfecting medical devices properly. Other concerns include the lack of informed consent by the patient and the liability of the reuser should something go wrong because of reuse.

The main reason that single use devices are reused is to reduce costs. There are two factors here.

Members have probably heard the news that the SARS situation in China, the most recent one, deals precisely with this very issue we are talking about right now. It is not just one disease we are talking about but other diseases as well in relation to single use devices.

The second point has to do with the cost involved. Why is there a preoccupation with the cost of reusing a single use medical device? If we had taken the $250 million that was spent on the ad scam program and put it into specifically this kind of area, that would have helped many people in not subjecting them to reused single use medical devices. We have some critical issues here that are very significant. It is stated that:

Because the reuse of single use devices can put the health and safety of Canadians at risk and because Health Canada is one of the entities responsible for protecting the health and safety of Canadians, we expected that it would take action to deal with this issue.

It is further stated:

While we recognize that this issue is a shared responsibility among various jurisdictions and professions, it is important that Health Canada as the federal regulator take action to manage the health and safety risks related to the reuse of single use medical devices.

That would have been expected. The Auditor General went on to say:

However, we found that Health Canada has not developed a position on managing the risks related to reuse of single use devices, although very recently it began examining its authority to regulate reuse practices. As a result, Canadians are not being protected from the health and safety risks created by the reuse of single use devices. Canada's failure to develop a position on this issue has created a regulatory vacuum.

This is pretty serious stuff. Health Canada has known about this for at least 10 years, and it is still talking about jurisdictional questions. Now it is going to re-examine this. The response to the Auditor General's recommendation was that by the year 2005 there may be something in place. How many people are going to be subject to having these single use medical devices inserted into their bodies, running the risk of contacting serious diseases and complications?

The time to act has passed. We need to act as quickly as possible now. These are very serious implications. I am so happy that we have an Auditor General who is not afraid to talk about these kinds of things and draw them to our attention. There is a person who is accountable, doing her job, doing it with probity and being prudent, accountable and transparent in what she is doing.

People ask where the trouble lies. Does it lie with the ministers who are in charge? Does it lie with the Prime Minister? Does it lie with the professionals? Does it lie with the taxpayers? Does it lie with the House? With the power that has been concentrated in the Prime Minister's office and with the fact that virtually every member on the government's side of the House can be whipped into voting against the wishes of their constituencies, there can be no other conclusion. These kinds of problems can be taken straight back to the very top of this organization, which is in the Prime Minister's office.

The time has come for us and for all Canadians to look very clearly at the way the government has been running for the last 10 years and why the Auditor General has come up with the kinds of conclusions and observations that she has. For these reasons that I have just mentioned, I cannot support Bill C-30.

The time has come for a new prime minister, a Conservative prime minister, a prime minister who will manage the affairs of the country and of the government with probity, with adherence to the highest principles and ideals, with prudence, demonstrating skill and good judgment in the use of the resources of the taxpayer money and the many resources that we as Canadians have, with the economy, with getting the right amount of resources of the right quality and quantity and delivering at the right time, in the right place and at the lowest cost.

He will be a prime minister who will be efficient so that the minimum resources used to achieve a given quantity and quality of output will be the ones that are used, not a surplus that is unnecessary. He will deal with effectiveness and will manage with effectiveness, that is, the extent to which the outcomes of an activity match the objective or the intended effects of that activity. When we say we want to do something in a program, we will get the results with transparency. The operation will be in a manner that is clear and easy to understand, and we will all know what is being done, how much it costs, who will do it, why they will do it and their competence to do it.

Finally, he will be a prime minister who will be accountable and will recognize the obligation to render an account and accept the responsibility for one's actions, both in terms of the results obtained and the means used.

These are tremendous challenges. One would look at that and ask if there a human being alive who could actually do this in its entirety. The answer is, we can try.

I remember so clearly a philosopher professor who said that we should all look at perfection and that is the way we should go. I have talked about seven concepts that are very useful. I submit that a Conservative prime minister, in particular the leader of the Conservative Party, would do that. We need to strive for that perfection. However, when we have a Prime Minister who is not trying to do that, then we need a change.

Budget Implementation Act, 2004 May 4th, 2004

Mr. Speaker, that last comment really does deserve a question.

I would like to ask the hon. member, how in the world can he suggest that we should be supporting this particular orientation of the Liberal government when in fact the Auditor General said that in certain programs, like the ad scam for instance, every rule in the book was broken?

One of the concepts that the Auditor General uses to evaluate management is the concept of probity. She defines probity as the adherence to the highest principles and ideals. One of the principles and ideals that ought to followed is to follow the rules.

The Auditor General has seven rules to be followed and I will not go through all of them. Another one is effectiveness. That is, the extent to which the outcome of an activity matched the objective or the intended effects of that activity.

On the one hand we have the government breaking the rules, and on the other hand the government wants effectiveness to ensure that the purposes of a particular program are met.

I want to ask the hon. member, is it a measure of effectiveness when Rolls Royce in the 2000 contract said that it would contribute to some 200 jobs and it actually produced only 100 jobs? In fact, is that an effective program?

Kelowna Citizens Awards April 26th, 2004

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to bring to the attention of the House the names of this year's outstanding citizen awards in Kelowna.

Woman of the Year, Beryl Itani; Man of the Year, Mel Kotler; Athlete of the Year, Sarah Charles; Team of the Year, the Kelowna Rockets; the Bob Giordano Memorial Award for sports volunteerism, Ken Wilson; Young Citizen of the Year, Rachel Leier; the Augie Ciancone Memorial Award for high school athletes, Katie Woodman and Kyle Murphy; KADAC honour in the arts, Roslyn Frantz, and in teen honours, Devin Roth; Organization of the Year, the emergency social services team; the Anita Tozer Memorial Award for outstanding community service, the city staff and firefighters of the emergency operations group.

Congratulations to all. They exemplify the heart and soul of our community. We thank them for their leadership and commitment.

Westbank First Nation Self-Government Act April 22nd, 2004

Mr. Speaker, I think the hon. member has just articulated exactly the debate that will continue on the third order of government. It is a matter of interpretation. The interpretation will go one way with one group and another way with another group.

The really significant things for us all to recognize are that the charter is there for all Canadians, that there are special rights given to first nations, and that the Constitution contains all the powers of any government in Canada. I do believe that where there is the right given to first nations to legislate in areas that are constitutionally under the jurisdiction of the federal government or under the provinces, either one, it is ultra vires of the Constitution.

Westbank First Nation Self-Government Act April 22nd, 2004

Mr. Speaker, I have no difficulties with the present context. I would like to assure the House that this is not the issue here. The issue is that we are not dealing only with the present. We are dealing with the future as well.

I am sure the hon. member is going to say immediately that this is exactly why clause 54(d) is here. That is quite right, but there has to be a good starting point and it is the assurance of a positive, solid starting point that I want to emphasize.

I have done it twice already and I will do it again. I believe that the current first nation council has excellent intentions here and they probably will do the right thing. I certainly hope so. But if we are going to pass legislation here saying, “I hope they will”, that is not good enough.

The constitution is clear and the agreement is clear as far as it goes, but it does not go far enough. This is a very critical part, because this represents roughly 93% of the people living on Westbank lands. We cannot just gloss this over and say it does not matter. I think it matters a lot.

Westbank First Nation Self-Government Act April 22nd, 2004

Mr. Speaker, yes, I think the fact is very commendatory. The hon. member raises clause 54(d) and I agree with his observations completely. The difficulty lies not there; the difficulty lies in the initial election of the members of the advisory committee. That is where the issue is, not with clause 54(d). That is fine; it is just the initial stages before that where there is a difficulty.

As for the other part on the advisory council, there is an advisory council operating now and it has been reasonably successful although there is a lot of argument about whether it actually has been reasonable representation. That is because of the appointment process. I think the suggestion being made is that if this actually becomes law--and I have no reason to believe that it will not, but if it does we have to depend on that--it divides the area into five sectors. It is proposed, I think, that each of those sectors would elect a particular person.

However, the key thing here is “elect” rather than “appoint”. I think the election is contained within the law. If the law happens and actually does say “elect”, then it cannot be changed. I think that is a very good provision, but we do not have it in place now. That is my concern. It should be in place now.

There is another observation I would like to make. I have a copy here of the constitution that is subsequent to the agreement and I have the agreement. The agreement is a considerably smaller document than the constitution that follows as a result of the provisions of the agreement. On this, I want to commend the people in that some really good work has been going on here. That part is good, but what I would suggest is that the same kind of credibility ought to obtain to this law of appointing the Westbank council. That is my issue.

Westbank First Nation Self-Government Act April 22nd, 2004

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to speak to the bill. I certainly agree with many of the points my hon. colleague just made. One point we would have complete agreement on is the status and respect that the Westbank Indian band has in the community.

Westbank First Nation has had the fortune of having been managed by a council that has done extremely well in its economic development policies and its administrative practices. It has been forward looking in terms of community involvement. It has done excellent work.

I really want to echo again the point made about the contribution that the Westbank First Nation has made to the recreational complex. I know I am getting into my hon. member's constituency when I say that because that complex is not in my area, it is in his. However, the Westbank First Nation at this point is in my constituency of Kelowna. That will change with the new boundary change.

I would like to begin my remarks by referring back to the formation of the advisory council. The agreement quite clearly indicates that such an advisory council shall be created. The point has been made that the agreement indicates the members of this council will be elected. I have the official document which contains the agreement. I would like to read into the record the exact statements with regard to non-member representation. Section 54 contains four paragraphs, and states:

a) Non-Members living on Westbank Lands or having an interest in Westbank Lands shall be provided in Westbank Law with mechanisms through which they may have input into proposed Westbank Law and proposed amendments to Westbank Law that directly and significantly affect such non-Members.

There will be an advisory council. It goes on to state:

b) Westbank Law providing the mechanisms required under subsection 54(a) shall be enacted prior to any new Westbank Law being enacted by Council after the Effective Date, or within 30 days of the Effective Date, whichever is sooner.

That suggests that within 30 days of this particular agreement coming into effect, there will be created an advisory council. It goes on to state:

c) Westbank Law enacted to meet the obligation referred to in subsection 54(a) shall only be amended or replaced with the consent of the non-Members living on Westbank Lands or having an interest in Westbank Lands.

Again, that is a very commendatory kind of provision. Finally, it states:

d) Westbank Law enacted to meet the obligations under subsection 54(a) shall provide for the process by which the consent of the non-Members shall be obtained for the purposes in subsection 54(c).

The point I want to make is that within the agreement there is a provision for the advisory council. While some people might argue that it is not a very important detail, to me, and I think to the non-members, it is a very important detail as to how the members of this advisory council will in be determined.

The point has been made that the agreement states they shall be elected. The points I have read do not in any way say that. I have been given a copy of the proposed law that is being drafted by the Westbank Nation. Clause 3 in the agreement clearly indicates that it is the intention of the Westbank First Nation, commencing on whatever day it will be, that members will serve a three year term. Clause 3 states:

Commencing on... and every 3 years after that, an election shall be conducted in accordance with Part...of the Election Code of the Westbank First Nation for the 5 members of the Advisory Council, who shall take office for a 3 year term commencing at the end of the term of the members appointed by the Chief and Council of the Westbank First Nation.

This is the first indication that these people will be elected, and that is good. They absolutely should be elected. However, this is not part of the agreement itself.

The agreement says that there shall be such a council. This is law made by first nations which says how members shall be elected. It is a useful distinction to be clear that this law can be changed whereas the agreement now becomes entrenched in the legislation of the Parliament of Canada. It is an important point to recognize.

I also want to indicate that I have tremendous respect and confidence that the Westbank First Nation will expand and develop further its proposed draft law in terms of the function and operation of the advisory council.

The fact remains, however, that this is a document that can be changed at the wishes of the band council and is not part of the agreement itself. That is a technical point, but it is a significant one.

This is an old chestnut that has been around for a long time, but I would also like to go one step further and read into the record the provision of section 25 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It states:

The guarantee in this Charter of certain rights and freedoms shall not be construed so as to abrogate or derogate from any aboriginal, treaty or other rights or freedoms that pertain to the aboriginal peoples of Canada including

a) any rights or freedoms that have been recognized by the Royal Proclamation of October 7, 1763; and

b) any rights or freedoms that now exist by way of land claims agreements or may be so acquired.

While section 25 clearly indicates these rights and freedoms exist, it also provides a look forward into the future. Any rights or freedoms that will be granted through a land claims agreement will now be protected under section 25 of the charter.

Some people have argued that it means the charter does not apply. It is quite to the contrary. I think it does apply. However, what this does is create rights and freedoms for one group of citizens that may or may not be the same as those accorded to other citizens of Canada. This is a significant point that needs to be registered.

I want to move on to further point that has to do with the creation of a third order of government. Some people will debate this point. The very fact that there is a debate about whether it does create a third order of government will be fodder for many court decisions and many lawyers will make a lot of money trying to interpret this section.

I would like to place my particular interpretation on this in the context of the Constitution of Canada. The Constitution of Canada clearly has within its confines, because that is how we run our country, all the powers that exist in Canada for any government. It clearly divides it into two parts. First, the federal Government of Canada and second, the provinces.

All the powers are contained within the constitution. Those powers that now exist for the federal and provincial governments are interpreted in terms of the exclusionary principle, or the doctrine of exclusivity. It says very clearly that the authority given to make legislation to one level of government cannot then be taken by another level or order of government. It is pretty clear in a variety of instances here that the law of Canada and the law of the provinces will be subject to the laws of the Westbank Nation.

There will be an endless argument about this. It seems to me that what will happen is the people will argue that Parliament has clearly delineated in the agreement that there will be these kinds of powers for the provinces, these kinds of powers for the federal government and then there will be these powers for the Westbank First Nation.

This suggests to me that a new order or level of government has been created. I am sure there are those who will disagree with this and I guess we will just have to have that disagreement. However, this will probably be the fodder for a number of court cases in the future.

I also would like to briefly refer to the financial accountability and transparency. There is no question that within the context of this Westbank First Nation agreement there is the apparent structure to create transparency and accountability. There is no doubt in my mind that the practice of the Westbank First Nation has been to be accountable and to be transparent, and it has done a very fine job of that.

However, there are certain elements here that are not quite clear. I think it is the lack of clarity that causes me to have very serious concerns about this particular section. First, it divides the revenues and the expenditures of the band into two sections or two silos. The first one is local revenues and expenditures and the second is non-local revenues and expenditures. They are consolidated into a budget document, but the effect of certain provisions creates this very distinct silo. Number one is the provision on capital expenditures. The funds that are collected locally come from two sources. It could be argued that they are all the same, but they are not because the distinction is made in terms of capital expenditures.

First of all, there are those local revenues that come from the members of the first nation, and then there are those revenues that come from those who are not members of the first nation, and these are separate. As for the capital expenditures with the money that is collected from the first nation, if the capital expenditure exceeds $500,000 it requires a special meeting and a referendum in order for that proposed expenditure to go through.

When it comes to the capital expenditure of moneys that are collected from non-first nation members, then the $500,000 cap does not exist. In fact, there is no cap. This is why the advisory council becomes so very significant. Admittedly the advisory council has no direct input; it has an advisory function only. The Westbank law should, and must in my opinion, clearly identify what the relationship will be between the advisory council and non-members. The bulk of this local revenue will come from non-first nation members. Therefore, it is really important that these people be consulted and have significant input into the decisions that affect them directly.

My concern here is not so much that they have a vote on the council. The significance here is that there must be realistic and reasonable democratic participation and representation. That becomes the issue. It is going to be a real challenge for the Westbank First Nation to develop this law so that in fact there can be reasonable democratic representation.

I would suggest, then, that it is a fact that there are some very significant omissions which need to be brought to our attention and developed before we agree to this bill in its entirety. Once again, I want to repeat that the opposition here is not to the functioning of or the operation of or the work that has been done by the Westbank First Nation. Rather, it is to criticize this particular bill from two perspectives. Number one, it is being pushed with undue haste, I think, and I do not know why that is the case. The other perspective is that it is not complete enough in order for us to have confidence that it can in fact form the template for future self-government agreements that might be modelled after this one. That is my concern.