Jake Hoeppner

[Access To Information Act, March 1st, 1996]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-211, an act to amend the Access to Information Act.

Mr. Speaker, I am sorry to inform the House that the member for Calgary Centre is not here to second the bill, but the hon. member for Swift Current-Maple Creek will.

It is a pleasure to present my private member's bill, an act to amend the Access to Information Act. This will bring the Canadian Wheat Board under the jurisdiction of the Access to Information Act.

Privacy Commissioner John Grace appeared before the Standing Committee on Justice in 1986. At that time the committee reviewed the operation of the act and recommended that it be expanded to include all crown agencies.

The committee felt that the exemptions contained in the law provided protection from potential competitive harm. The Wheat Board has no legitimate claims that it would suffer competitive harm.

Western farmers will support this change of the act very strongly and I hope that the House will also.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)

[Committee Of The Whole, February 27th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I have been listening to this debate and I bring forward a slogan taught to me as a child. It is something we have forgotten about today.

I was always taught that an ounce of prevention was worth a pound of cure. Today we heard a throne speech in which the government made commitments to bring unity to the country, to depend on provinces and negotiate with them under the circumstances of honour and trust. The government knew there were hard feelings on some of these issues. If it had wanted to prevent this it could have exercised an ounce of prevention. It could have been very easily done if it had consulted with all the House leaders and had put forward all of the people it wanted to put into the chair.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the way you have run the House. I know I am probably not one of your favourite constituents but I still respect and honour you for what you have done. However, what the government is trying to do right now is going against exhibits you have shown to the House such as fairness, respect and discipline. If we want to correct that we will have to put pounds of cure into the House to ever receive the trust of the Canadian people.

[T'Was The Year Before Christmas, December 13th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker,

T'was the year before Christmas, when all through the land, The Liberals were shivering, their heads in the sand. Their pockets were hung by the chimney with care, In hope that St. Martin would not leave them bare.

The backbenchers all ready to jump into bed, While visions of gold-plated pensions danced in their heads. But out on the Hill there arose such a clatter, The Reformers had arrived to deal with this matter.

The Liberals threw open their red book in a flash, We promise to hand out plenty more cash. But what to their wondering eyes should appear, Defeat in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario so clear.

But lo and behold, Canadians will see, More broken promises from these Liberals MPs. Reform is the party that will bring to this land, Hope for the future-one that is planned.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good flight.

[Points Of Order, December 6th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, my point of order arises from an answer the customs and

revenue minister gave when he said that the Reform Party encouraged farmers to illegally run the U.S. border.

The Reform Party has never encouraged farmers to run the border with their grain. The fact is that the customs and revenue-

[The Balkans, December 4th, 1995]

How many sons do you have over there? Let us hear an answer.

[Canadian Wheat Board, December 4th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, the last time I asked for information in the House, the RCMP were accused of using improper procedures. I wonder which cowboy in the agriculture ministry threw the lariat the wrong way. It was the Liberal government who 15 years ago allowed these excessive perks and privileges to infiltrate the Canadian Wheat Board.

Why does the minister not make these perks and privileges retroactively disappear, like the government did with the Pearson airport deal?

[Canadian Wheat Board, December 4th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.

Prairie farmers are outraged at the recent revelation that Canadian Wheat Board commissioners were given severance packages of up to $290,000. In November 1994 I submitted an access to information request for all available information on pension plans and wages for Canadian Wheat Board commissioners. Agriculture Canada replied "no such documents exist" regarding my request.

In August I challenged that reply but got no response. Why was the minister hiding this information?

[Gun Control, November 27th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, Liberal and Tory senators put a lump of coal in the Christmas stockings of legitimate gun owners when they passed a flawed gun bill last week.

Again it is obvious that the concerns of law-abiding gun owners do not count in the House or in the Senate. The Liberal government ignored these concerns and rammed through legislation which will do nothing to reduce crime but will establish an extensive bureaucracy and give the justice minister unprecedented powers.

When Liberal backbenchers voted with the wishes of their constituents, the government gave them a swift kick to keep them in line. It is the front benches that need a swift kick in their egos, one that will propel them to the back and out the door.

Liberal, Tory, same old story. Tories out in 93. Liberals next, just wait and see.

[Parliament Of Canada Act, November 22nd, 1995]

What about mileage?

[Parliament Of Canada Act, November 22nd, 1995]

Do they get a living allowance?