John Duncan

[First Nations Financial Transparency Act, November 22nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, talking about the fact that this concept had some roots in a private initiative in this House by the hon. member for Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar is instructive of something else, which is a major imperative for first nations to want to do this. Many first nations are now doing it voluntarily because they are interested in economic development and they know that private businesses want to know their financials. They want to know that those financials are sound, that they are acceptable and that they are getting into partnership with somebody who is practising prudent financial management.

That is certainly something that was testified to at committee and something I am well aware of from my visits across the country. There are some very good examples of first nations that are doing exactly all of this.

[First Nations Financial Transparency Act, November 22nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I have come to expect that from the member.

There is no requirement under Bill C-27 for anyone beyond elected officials to disclose salaries, per diems and honorariums. That is what we do federally, provincially and municipally. There is the odd jurisdiction that goes beyond that. We do not want to put this whole area into the realm of political partisanship, which is what the member is trying to do.

[First Nations Financial Transparency Act, November 22nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, as the fiscal year comes to an end at the end of March, we need legislation in place before then in order to have these rules apply to the subsequent fiscal year. We need some notification period for first nations to comply with the new legislation.

Compliance with this legislation is minimal from the standpoint that the disclosures are already disclosed to the department. Therefore, it is just a matter of making it public. There was some discussion that maybe there would be an extra cost attached to a website but we are quite prepared to utilize our website for that activity.

That is the reason we need to get this legislation to move forward.

[First Nations Financial Transparency Act, November 22nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, it is illustrative. We have an estimates process at the standing committee level. I have never failed to respond to appear before the committee for the estimates. The opposition and government members have a full opportunity to explore the estimates, and I think that is most appropriate.

[First Nations Financial Transparency Act, November 22nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the question is illustrative of the problem, and that is that we would be removing a straitjacket and we would be reducing the role of the department. I think the member would agree with us on both of those objectives. The passage of the bill would encourage good governance. The passage of the bill would mean the watchdog is actually the membership and the public, not the department. That is most appropriate, and that is the way it should operate.

I will point out that municipalities are creatures of the provinces, and they have a not dissimilar relationship to that between the department and first nations.

[First Nations Financial Transparency Act, November 22nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, that is increasingly the question that was asked by many first nations members. That is the question that was asked by the public at large. It is the question that all of us are asking. We are now in the 21st century, and we need to make some long-overdue changes. We want to take the department out of being the only one that receives the financial information. It is instructive to know that the self-governing first nations, of which there are about 20 across the country, are already disclosing financials and they are happy to do so.

[First Nations Financial Transparency Act, November 22nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, we have had considerable debate on this 13-clause bill. It is simple and straightforward. We believe there has been more than adequate consideration. We want to proceed, and the justifications are all there.

[First Nations Financial Transparency Act, November 22nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, as members know, we had quite a lot of public dialogue on the issue of salaries and financial disclosure. We had a resolution from the Assembly of First Nations that basically endorsed the fact that first nation communities should be practising accountability and transparency. We have had the same kind of resolution passed at the United Nations in respect to aboriginal governments.

We do not think that democracy, accountability and transparency are negotiable items in a country such as ours. That is why we are moving forward with this legislation. We have had multiple requests annually, virtually every day of the week, from band members and first nations communities wanting this measure to be put in place.

[First Nations Financial Transparency Act, November 22nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I responded to this question yesterday during the press conference. We have responded to the questions from the Parliamentary Budget Officer. We think we have fully responded to his questions.

I am puzzled by the question from the opposition.

[First Nations Financial Transparency Act, November 22nd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, federal, provincial and municipal governments have obligations and responsibilities to report to their constituencies. We believe that those same obligations and responsibilities should apply to the other governments in Canada, the first nation governments. We also believe that elected officials have an obligation and a legal responsibility in most cases to disclose their salaries, honorariums, per diems and expenses.

This legislation accomplishes those objectives for the first nation governments across the country that are operating under the Indian Act. We think that is appropriate in all circumstances.