Deborah Grey

[Yukon Act, November 5th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member's comments. That high mountain referred to, is that Mount Trudeau or Mount Logan? I want to get that straight. It is Mount Logan and I am glad it is still Mount Logan and I am sure the member for Yukon is as well.

I spent a couple of days in Whitehorse two summers ago. My only regret is, first, that I was not there longer, and second, that I was not there with my husband, with our truck and camper and a couple of motorcycles. We look forward to the day when we are able to get there and do some travelling and fishing.

[Yukon Act, November 5th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to give qualified support to the government on this bill. We have questions that will come forth in committee but we look forward to getting the bill into committee so we can have those discussions.

As the minister knows, it has been a long time coming. It has gone on for a few generations. Certainly since the gold rush in 1898 there have been updates and changes made to it but this particular form of the bill seems to have taken a while to work its way through the labyrinth of parliament. I certainly look forward to the discussion. It is probably a really happy day for people in Yukon.

We have heard various members of all parties here say that the Yukon government and aboriginal groups are in favour of the bill. I am sure a lot of third party private exploration concerns are also in favour of it. It makes me nervous to think that things are going so well here that maybe this will get through and everyone is in favour of it. That is probably a testament to the fact that the minister realizes how important consultation is, not just a kind of phony, trite consultation but to really get in there and talk about it because we need to get the thing right in the first place.

It is good that we can look at some of the specifics of the bill but also see that there is a good spirit and a good intent for whatever groups to work together and say let us get this thing right and make sure it stays that way.

This will take effect at the beginning of April 2003. Going back 10 years we thought that the year 2000 would never arrive. All of a sudden here we are ready to go into 2002. Even for people who think this is still a long time coming, that is just a year this coming spring and many things have to be put in place before then. It is probably wise to have the time limit on it and the starting date.

On the Yukon northern affairs program devolution transfer agreement, it is a smart thing to start devolving powers. Yukon certainly is not just some young kid looking forward to adulthood. It has gone on its own for many years in terms of functioning as a territory. That is one thing in particular that makes the amendment in Bill C-39: that the words “the Yukon territory” will be replaced with “Yukon”. Some people may think that is a very small thing but it is important to notice that now it will simply be called “Yukon” and we will be able to celebrate that.

The legislation gives Yukon the power to make laws regarding exploration, development, conservation and management of its own non-renewable natural resources. Although in theory I am sure there has been a great deal of that going on over the last few years, this transfers that power and says “Yes, you really are you and yes, you really will have the power and the authority to make your dealings and look after your own land management, et cetera”.

It also allows the Yukon legislature to make laws regarding oil and gas pipelines located entirely within Yukon and the export of the primary production of non-renewable natural resources and forestry to other parts of Canada. In other words it is assuming and finally legislating on those things that have been going on in theory and perhaps some practice over the years but on which it always had to go to Ottawa for permission, to see if it was okay with big brother. It is certainly wise that Yukon be given the authority to sign these deals and have its own self-sufficiency. Of course we have been dealing with that lately in the Alberta and Saskatchewan land claims agreements to make sure that third party interests are protected, and in the Manitoba Act as well. This is one more in the chain.

The Auditor General of Canada will conduct yearly audits of the Yukon government and will report his or her findings to the legislative assembly. It is good for all of us to be held accountable financially. We think this is very wise.

The federal government will retain some administration and control of property in Yukon if it is deemed necessary for defence and security, creating a national park, settlement of an aboriginal land claim, et cetera. The federal government should continue to maintain those responsibilities.

What happened on September 11 seems to work its way into almost every piece of legislation, or everything that happens in the House.

When we talk about defence and security it certainly has a more poignant meaning to it now. When we look at the enormous borders in northern Canada we can see that it is something we need to be very concerned about in terms of defence and security.

Those are some positive things we see in the bill. I will talk now about some concerns, not just pros and cons but things that we in the coalition want to ask questions about. We want to make sure that everything is right on before the legislation goes through.

We have concerns regarding the federal authority that could perhaps be seen as maintaining a heavy hand in the legislation. The commissioner of the Yukon would be appointed by order of the governor in council. That makes it political in its own right without a free and fair election. We always need to be careful that it is not just the loudest person who says “I am the best. Vote for me”. In fact politically over the years when our party was the Reform Party, we said that the first five people who came running to us saying “Pick me, pick me” probably should get eliminated from the list automatically.

We need to make sure that we find a lot of really qualified people, not just those who have lined pockets or who have been appointed because it has been a good election year. It must be based on merit and merit alone to make sure that the commissioner is the very best person we possibly can find, because of course that commissioner would be doing an incredible amount of work and I suspect would be seen as a puppet of the federal government if the appointment was nothing more than a political one.

Under the legislation the commissioner of Yukon must follow any written instructions given to the commissioner by the governor in council or the minister. Again we need to be careful about sending out missives, memos and dear knows what all to say “Thou shalt do this”. The commissioner, if chosen by merit and if from the Yukon, would probably know at the ground level what is more practical, reasonable and workable for them rather than a missive in a memo from the governor in council or the minister.

However I do notice in the legislation that 10 years hence this clause will be repealed. That sort of sounds like a sunset clause. I find it strange that there would be a sunset clause in this legislation but not in another piece of legislation that is working its way through here, so it is not necessarily a sunset but a sunset if necessary. We need to be really careful, because if it is good enough in this bill to phase out something 10 years later we need to hold every piece of legislation up to that bar and say that there must be a mechanism for review, whatever we want to call it, that sooner or later down the road in every piece of legislation there will be a sunset clause, that federal powers would phase out somewhat, to be able to re-examine the legislation, whether it is in this bill, Bill C-39, or in Bill C-36, the anti-terrorism legislation.

Another concern we have is that the governor in council could direct the commissioner to withhold his or her assent to any bill that has been introduced in the legislative assembly. The governor in council could disallow any bill from the legislative assembly within a year after it is passed. That is a bit of a hefty veto, for sure. If a law is legitimately passed in the Yukon legislature, an entire year later the minister would be able to slap a veto on it. That piece of legislation would have worked its way right down to the streets in the Yukon. To give the governor in council the power to disallow any bill from the legislative assembly within a year after it is passed would, I sense, cause some nervousness at the ground level. We would encourage the minister to make sure that would not happen for some political reason which may not have any practicality at all.

Bill C-39 would give the commissioner and the executive council the power to appoint an auditor general. It could be the Auditor General of Canada but does not necessarily have to be. We believe the entire legislative assembly should have the right to review qualified candidates for the position rather than the appointment being left to the commissioner and the executive council. Again the point is to get it right. If he or she is the best auditor general we can find then surely the ratification and the strength that would come from it, from the entire legislative assembly, would be nothing but healthy. Therefore it is a great idea to make sure that everyone ratifies this position. It is not that huge a task to make sure that someone is the best person for the job and that the appointment is based on merit and merit alone. Surely it should go past the legislative assembly, not just the executive council. It opens it up and frees it up. It makes the process more transparent and therefore more saleable down the road.

There are a number of questions regarding certain clauses in the bill. I look forward to having a chance to discuss those in committee. Bill C-39 in clause 18 gives Yukon the power to define what constitutes an intoxicant for the purposes of making laws on importation of those intoxicants into Yukon. I think we should define what they are ahead of time. Under the Northwest Territories Act and the current Yukon Act intoxicants are defined, but in Bill C-39 they are not. I would like to know, the coalition would like to know and I am sure the whole committee would like to know, including the Liberal members, why this definition has changed or why it has been omitted in Bill C-39. Intoxicants used to be defined. Now they are not. For people who will be using those intoxicants or for some who may try to traffic in those intoxicants, I think it is only fair and might be a really good idea to have that definition right up front so people would know the penalty involved.

Clause 190 amends the Judges Act to double the cost of living compensation for supreme court judges in the north from $6,000 to $12,000, maximum representational allowances for senior judges from $5,000 to $10,000 and for chief justices as well from $5,000 to $10,000. I will not necessarily squawk about the numbers or amending the Judges Act, however it would seem to me to be a really smart thing to amend the Judges Act and not necessarily the Yukon Act. We will be asking those questions in committee to make sure that everything lines up, that it is parallel and that it fits together perfectly like a jigsaw puzzle.

Subclause 48(1) gives the commissioner of the Yukon “the administration and control of all rights in respect of waters in Yukon” and then of course with the consent of executive council the power to exercise those rights “or sell and...dispose of them” while retaining the proceeds of the disposition. Starting to talk about water immediately sends out an emotional signal, so I think we need to be really careful in the bill in terms of what we mean by “the administration and control of all rights in respect of waters”. We have just been through something like that with the provincial government in Newfoundland talking about provincial rights to export water.

We want to be very careful here. I know of the environmental concerns of Yukon people. I know how important water is to them. We had better spell it out very clearly ahead of time rather than having some commissioner down the road who realizes he has absolute control of all rights in respect of waters. We do not want to get a bad egg in that position. We do not want someone who thinks he may be able to make a quick buck by transferring water and selling it. It seems to me we would be very wise to define exactly those “rights in respect of waters in Yukon”, because down the road somewhere in a financial crunch that renewable resource might look pretty profitable. I think we need to be very careful to have that spelled out ahead of time because, as we know, it is a lot more difficult to try to spell it out after the horse is out of the barn. We need to make those definitions, laws, legislation and regulations very clear up front.

There is a wonderful leader in Yukon now, Pat Duncan, and there may be an excellent commissioner coming after this one, but who knows what will happen and who will be there several years down the road? We would be a lot smarter to cut that off at the pass ahead of time.

Of course there are questions. Would this include the right to export Yukon's water? How does this affect the rights of aboriginals under the Yukon Indian land claims agreement? All those things need to be spelled out ahead of time so they are clear. Then we would not get into an emotional fracas down the road with people saying we did not tell them, that they did not know, and that they thought they had the exclusive right. Again, it is just human nature to try to push the parameters. We need to be very particular and put those safeguards in place ahead of time.

I look forward to dealing with this in committee. I thank the minister for bringing this forward and for the debate we have had on Bill C-39 today.

[Trade, October 29th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the overly ambitious Minister of Industry is looking for a billion dollars for hooking up the Internet. Meanwhile traffic at our borders is in chaos. He should know that we desperately need to invest in up to date technology that will enhance security and keep the billion dollars a day of trade flowing between our border and the U.S. border.

Why has this leadership hopeful not done his job and insisted on the essentials?

[Health, October 25th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I thought we were saying it.

There he was, the sixties hippie, the eighties lawyer and now Minister of Health. He should always obey the law but he broke the patent law and failed his number one responsibility. Then he said that there was no national emergency, and then he blamed it on his officials. Now he has been caught in a glaring conflict of interest.

In all these incarnations, why has this minister not learned that when he breaks the law he pays the price?

[Health, October 24th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, what we are asking is for the minister to obey the law.

Yesterday the minister said “I am in charge here”. He is so in charge that his boss forgot to put him on the security committee. He is so in charge that he is standing by his officials, but those same officials are forced to take the blame for breaking the patent law. He is so in charge that he swallowed the Apotex fee. It is amazing.

When is the Prime Minister going to say to the Minister of Health “You are the weakest link. Goodbye”?

[Health, October 22nd, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, this is no laughing matter. It is a serious issue. The minister will just have to swallow the pill on this one. It has gone on and on.

With all the differing versions we want the truth. Who is making the pill right now in case we need it and who will pay for it?

[Claim Settlements (Alberta and Saskatchewan) Implementation Act, October 22nd, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, some of the last comments made by the member for Winnipeg Centre seem unfortunate. I certainly have no idea how dredging up things from years and years gone by, probably taken out of context, has anything to do with building and being positive.

As the first ever Reform Party member elected to the House of Commons in 1989 I remind the member for Winnipeg Centre that I taught school on a reserve at Frog Lake. I had several native foster children in my home. I was a lighthouse for the Reform Party. I tell him that there is sweet nothing to be gained by this kind of behaviour and debate in the House of Commons.

Let me tell him exactly what the Canadian Alliance position is in its policy paper. It states:

Our position in land claims negotiations will be to ensure respect for existing private property rights, affordable and conclusive settlement of all claims, and an open and transparent process involving all stakeholders.

Is that not what the NDP just said? Is that not in some measure what the government is trying to do right now? That is what we should be discussing right now.

On behalf of members of the Canadian Alliance, the official opposition, as someone who has represented them for quite some time, and on behalf of every member of the House of Commons, it is foolish to even go down that path. Shame on them.

Let me get to the bill at hand, Bill C-37, and talk a bit about some of the pros and cons in that legislation. Obviously there is a history in this regard. The minister talked about it earlier this morning. If we had any choice it would have been to have the bill longer because there is so much to study in it. It was just brought in last week. I know that it was to be debated this coming Thursday, but because of Bill C-33 respecting the Nunavut water board and tribunal this bill is coming into the House earlier today.

So keen was I to make sure that I did get something to say about it, I travelled on the all-nighter last night so I arrived here at about 8.25 this morning. I am glad to be here while we are participating in this debate. I am also glad that we can change our flights around.

If we look at the history in this regard, the minister alluded to the Manitoba land claims agreement and made some changes to that as well. That came in, in 2000. To be able to make changes to that legislation to tighten it up, to make it more efficient and more streamlined, as the minister said, is a good thing. With the ongoing land claim settlements we need to be able to make sure they are swiftly and positively resolved. If this bill is in any way able to do that it is a good thing, not just for first nations but also for third party stakeholders. The minister talked about them.

Life is a balance. We always need to be able to come up with some sort of a balance that we can strike with regard to the stakeholders, whether in oil, gas, minerals or whatever, on reserve land or on future reserve land, as the minister talked about.

Let us look for a few moments at some of the general observations of the bill. Native reserve claim settlements normally require the accommodation of existing third party interest. That is there already.

Before land can be set apart for reserve creation or expansion the existing third party interests on that piece of land must be cleared either by buying out that land and cancelling it, or by accommodating the interest in a manner agreeable to Canada, the particular first nation and the third party. Only after that can the land be transferred to the government for reserve purposes.

Again that process looks like it is a good one, but of course the trick is how lengthy that process can be become. I think my colleague said that it could go on for years and years, sometimes even a generation for sure. Usually the additions to the reserve process takes between one and three years, but all kinds of outstanding land claim settlements can go on for many years.

Hopefully Bill C-37 will speed up that process. It would allow a first nation to consent to the creation of interests on land proposed for reserve status rather than waiting until after the land has been purchased by the federal government and granted reserve status.

We look at the timelines on it, give checkmarks and say that is a good thing.

We have to look at some of the pros and a few of the cons in the particular bill. We need to draw a column. It seems to me we all do that in our lives when we have a decision to make. We look at the pros and the cons. Then we weigh them off against each other because life is obviously just a series of tradeoffs and balances.

Some of the pros are that Bill C-37 would allow the minister to set lands apart for reserve creation expansion rather than doing this by the more time consuming order in council. Not only will this hasten the settlement of outstanding reserve claims, but with the large numbers of reserve creation orders expected in the future this will also avoid taxing the order in council process. I am sure that gets to be fairly lengthy on its own.

We could flip that pro into a con and say that as with so much legislation, as the member for Winnipeg said, the minister seems to get a great deal of power regardless of who is in power. We have to make sure that there are checks and balances on the power of the minister.

I am sure the minister would agree with that. We have both sat in the House for many years. It would be a pity to think that he would become omnipotent or something like that. I am sure he would never want that to happen. We have to make sure we balance out the pro with the con in that regard. Yes, it does give the minister more power, but let us make sure that there are checks and balances.

The predesignation provision allowing a first nation to consent to third party interest on land proposed for reserve status will significantly reduce the time required for Saskatchewan and Alberta to fulfill their reserve expansion commitments. Dear knows this whole process goes on and on. Perhaps the bill can hurry that process along, again making sure that all aspects are taken into consideration and that all stakeholders and third parties, regardless of what their interests are, are not getting the short end of the stick or shafted in any way on either side.

A speedier implementation process would encourage on reserve economic activity benefiting the first nation and provide commercial certainty for the third party that has an interest in proposed reserve land during the transfer process.

What a smart thing it is to have economic development on reserves. Hopefully the idea of complete dependence on government is waning across the nation. For first nations and reserves to be totally dependent on government is not a happy situation for anyone. None of us like to be completely dependent. If this in any way gives economic self-sufficiency or economic development for reserves across the land, it would certainly be seen as a good thing.

The legislation accommodates existing third party interests to give the first nations the opportunity to welcome new interests during the reserve creation process. It is interesting that while the bill is before the House we are talking about the pipeline in the Northwest Territories. That is also important.

All the kinks have not been worked out of it. That is for sure, but as we are watching this process evolve right now there are private oil companies which are taking in the aboriginal community in a one-third profit sharing idea. That whole idea of economic development cannot hurt anyone for sure. It is interesting that those events are going along a parallel track to make sure that third party interests really are considered and yet they are able to share the benefit of using native lands as well.

This will give the first nations a chance to select commercially viable lands for reserve expansion rather than simply those lands which are already cleared of existing interests. Again, that appears to be a benefit.

We have a couple of concerns. I have already mentioned the explicit one, not total but certainly more power for the minister. We need to make sure we keep that in check.

Although we support facilitating a quicker resolution of first nation claim settlements, we have concerns regarding the effects of the legislation on third party stakeholders with interest on proposed reserve lands.

I just mentioned the pipeline through the north coming down into Canada. Alaska also wants to get in on that. However, to make sure we are not all on one side or the other, there needs to be a balance. As I have said many times in my remarks as well as in the past, we need to make sure that there is concern for both sides here, that we do not just take off our glasses and say we want this side or that side to benefit. It needs to be mutually beneficial.

That is the only way in life it works. To me it is the only way this piece of legislation can work. We have to work together and make sure we get the aboriginal community as well as the third party stakeholders to the table.

We are not trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes or pull a quick one and say to them that they have missed their chance, because we know these things always have ramifications. Sooner or later those concerns will come up, or there will not be any goodwill for third party stakeholders to even work with the government or to believe that a piece of legislation like this will really help them. We want to make sure that the third party stakeholders feel they are being listened to, that they, as well as the first nations, are being given not just the benefit of the doubt but the benefit of the whole situation, because I know that many of them over the years have had concerns that they have been railroaded or whatever.

Again, the minister has a huge responsibility to live up to. I know there are frustrations across the country right now and he faced frustrations this summer. These surely are difficult times for him to be working through. I know he will realize how important it is to strike that balance. We in the official coalition are in the opposition now, but sooner or later, as the member said, someone else will be in government and we want to make sure that there are reasonable and rational processes in place, as well as transitions that would take place for any government of the day.

I know the minister understands that because when he and I first started in the House we were sitting in the opposition corner. The opposition coalition wishes him well with this. I suppose if we can give any advice or caution it would be to make sure that he deals with this sensitively on both sides of the issue. I know it is a tough tightrope to walk but at the same time I do believe it is important. If he does not, obviously down the road he will end up with problems far more serious than those he is facing now.

The opposition coalition gives qualified support. We say to the government that we want to move ahead with these land claims settlements and we trust that this Alberta-Saskatchewan land claims agreement, which is modelled after Manitoba's, will go well, that it will go speedily and that we will see some true benefits both for the first nations and the third party stakeholders.

[Terrorism, October 15th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, regardless of and in spite of what the minister says in trying to reassure Canadians, his own health and rescue officials tell us that there is not enough medicine, equipment or facilities anywhere in Canada to protect or treat people in the event of an attack. The government must make sure ahead of time that every precaution, protocol and plan is in place ahead of time lest this occur.

When will the minister establish a 1-800 number to allay the fears of concerned Canadians?

[Immigration, September 28th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, we should just take a couple of seconds to find out actually where some of that government money is funnelled through. We learned from the new unpublished public accounts that the government gave the Tamil Eelam Society of Canada $278,229 for “immigrant settlement services”.

Could the government confirm that all of this money went for those purposes for which it was intended and not one dollar went to any terrorist activities?

[Privilege, September 27th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a question of privilege about something that has happened over the last several days which I believe has truly infringed on my responsibilities as a member of parliament, and also affects the constituents of Edmonton North who have corresponded with me over the years.

This is a pretty serious issue. When this saga began on Monday, I really did not think there was a serious problem. My assistant logged on to her computer, as would be a normal thing to do on a Monday, but discovered that she could not access our computer which is of course what she does every day. When she phoned the House information services people to find out what the problem was with the computer, she was informed that my computer S and U drives had been shut down, frozen by the Canadian Alliance. I could hardly believe it, but I continued to check it.

It is now Thursday afternoon and we have lost an entire business week. My entire computer system has been frozen and shut down with a number of files on it with my contacts, correspondence and files with my constituents.

When we located where the files actually were and dug deeper into it, we discovered that when I was serving as the Leader of the Official Opposition on an interim basis from March until September 2000, the server was allocated to the Leader of the Opposition office by the House of Commons. While I was serving as the leader on an interim basis, that was the server through the House of Commons information services.

Of course the question is why was I not taken off that server over a year ago? Obviously it was not done by whoever was supposed to do it and my office has just continued on in my capacity as the member of parliament for Edmonton North.

My correspondence and files on the computer disappeared on Monday. The S and U drives were completely frozen. Evidently we understood in the ensuing days this week that the Alliance whip's office wanted to go through all the files. We checked that out further. A representative from the House of Commons planning and communications department, with whom we checked about this, said to my staff, “The two sides will work it out. We won't release any information until both sides agree on a decision and then issue a joint directive”, which sounds very sensible to me. “You folks work it out and then come and see me, and I can release this information”.

Yesterday afternoon the Alliance whip staff member said to my assistant at a retirement pizza party, and let us make sure that it was a fairly informal gathering, “Let's get together and go over these files and then I will decide what can be released and what cannot”. My assistant said, “This is our computer, our constituents files and correspondence”. There were years worth of stuff in there, and my assistant said, “No, I do not think it is any of your business. This is our computer and we will just carry on so no, I am not interested in doing that”. She brought that to my attention.

We have spent almost the entire day on this. As far as I understand from various people, the staffer then checked with information services and legal counsel and said that I, as the member of parliament, had declined the invitation to review the files with him and that he was coming to look at them, that in effect he had been given the okay, that it was all right for him and I had just been assumed to have said, “Sure. Go ahead”, when in fact nothing of the sort had been offered. He then was given permission and access to my files to go through them with no negotiation and no representation from my office, either me or one of my staff members.

Just as an aside, let me say that when I finished my role as the caucus chairman in April, in the spring of 2001, I turned over a physical filing cabinet full of stuff to the new caucus chairman of the Alliance, the member for Langley--Abbotsford, as well as all of the disks with all of the caucus minutes since 1993. I certainly have nothing to hide. Any correspondence that the staff member may have looked through today certainly is not very exciting, I can assure him. Of course if that is my privacy, there is an incredible invasion there. I think all members need to be aware of that.

As I just said, I have nothing to hide. The information has been gone over now. He was given full access to it earlier today without any negotiation or any okay or representation from my staff. This is about the privacy of my files, the privacy of my correspondence with constituents and the sanctity of those files wherein constituents have asked me to represent them in terms of tax issues, immigration issues, and national defence issues. I have an incredible amount of information on those issues which I and every member in the House would assume would be safe and the sanctity of which would be paramount.

Nobody from anywhere contacted me about proceeding with a review of all the files on my computer. I was not contacted. I made some inquiries late this afternoon. I have been working on this. I arrived here at 6.35 this morning and received a phone call some time after that from someone who was concerned about it. It has not only consumed the entire day but the entire week, effectively a week where my assistant has been completely frozen from her computer system. It is unbelievable.

The main concern is that House officials never contacted me about proceeding. They took it on a staffer's word that I declined so it was okay. “She declined the invitation so let us go through the files”.

We must also guard against this happening to any other member in the House ever again. I am sure all of my colleagues would agree with me. Tories have crossed the floor to the Liberals and Liberals have gone to the Bloc over the years, and their files go with them. I am astounded that this has happened.

The Legal Counsel, Rob Walsh, said to me before question period at about 1.50 that he thought it had been cleared up by 7.30 this morning. I told him we still did not have a computer. I will read a memo that I received at 2.37 from the whip staffer:

I have just contacted Information Services and instructed them to release all your files on the S & U drives with the exception of documents that relate solely to the Canadian Alliance Caucus.

Fair enough. In fact they had all of them in a filing cabinet that I had turned over in April.

These files are old caucus agendas, Alliance staff and MP lists and organizational charts for the OLO.

Of course those very things would be in a physical filing cabinet.

These files have been temporarily stored in a folder where only I have access and are stored as “read only” so that they cannot be altered. If you are satisfied with my above explanation as to the files that remain in our possession, then I will instruct Information Services to delete these files. If there is some doubt, I will hold onto them until that doubt is removed. I trust this is satisfactory.

In fact it raises an unbelievable number of questions, Mr. Speaker, questions which I think you as the chief of the precinct here need to answer.

The first question is who initiated this and when and why? I served as the Leader of the Opposition on an interim basis until over one year ago. Who initiated this and when?

Second, why was I not informed, either verbally or in writing, of this decision for someone to paw through my files when it was made? There was no contact with my office whatsoever.

Third, who let them into those files without any negotiation or any knowledge on my part?

Fourth, how do I know which files were removed? It is one thing to say that everything is cool and here we are. I cannot even get into those files and the S and U drives to find out what might be missing or what might have been stored elsewhere.

Fifth, how do I know that they will not exercise the same privilege in my office? I think of all of us, no matter which party we serve in, does someone somewhere have a master key and they can help themselves to information?

Mr. Speaker, you and I both know about the sanctity of our files, the sanctity of our responsibilities and the sanctity of our own private office space. I believe that has been breached.

Finally, if they were just reading directory names, as the assistant led us to believe, and they were just having a little look at the directory names, how would they determine if it was in fact these caucus documents as he referred to, lists, organizational charts, staff and MP lists? It would almost seem that someone would have to enter that file. I am not sure any of us could be guaranteed that all the files were not entered.

Mr. Speaker, as upset as I could be over this, I can assure you that I have constituents who have asked me to look into some very serious matters on their behalf. They do not know where these things are now. I am not sure they would be impressed that somebody somewhere, on somebody's direction, with somebody not knowing about it was looking through their files. I just do not think that is cool.

Mr. Speaker, I am asking you to look into this and to answer the questions I have raised. Then of course there is the overarching question of why it was that the House officials never even contacted me about proceeding with reviewing my private files. We must also guard against this happening again and ensure that it will never, ever happen again to anybody of any party or any political stripe in this Chamber.