Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak today to the motion from the Liberal Party. Given the hour, I suspect that my remarks may be the last during today's debate.
We have heard arguments from the opposition members today, some more informed than others, on the reality of the situation when it comes to lobbying in this country.
We have also heard members on that side state a number of times that the government was opposing today's motion. This is baffling, as I am quite sure that at no point during the debate did any member of the Conservative Party speak in opposition to the motion before us today.
Instead, we have not only accepted the proposal that parliamentary secretaries be covered by the requirements of the Lobbying Act, but we have gone a step further. We on this side have proposed that these rules not only cover parliamentary secretaries but also members of Parliament, senators and political staff in the offices of the opposition party leaders. So far, however, not a single member on that side has been open to that challenge.
I find myself at a loss to understand the situation we find ourselves in here today. On one hand, we have the Liberal Party talking about accountability but , on the other hand, these same Liberal members are unwilling to even consider complying with the same lobbying rules that public office holders abide by every day.
We are talking about some pretty basic requirements. We are asking members of the House to accept public releases of names and topics of their meetings with lobbyists. We are asking members to conduct their meetings in the light of day. We have no concern doing that on our side of the House. We have nothing to hide.
The member for Malpeque even argued that opposition MPs do not have any role in the development of public policy. However, we know that is absolutely misleading. Right now there is a good chance that there is a meeting between lobbyists and opposition MPs behind that curtain.
The members on that side of the House seems to have convinced themselves that they should not have to be accountable to Canadians. Can anyone on that side of the House look their constituents in the eye and claim that they have no right to know who their MP is meeting with or that Canadians have no right to know what they are discussing? I find that hard to believe.
The reality is that the Liberal Party thinks that it finally has a leg up on the government when it comes to accountability. However, the strange thing is that when members on this side ask the Liberals if they are willing to be accountable, they dodge the question.
We have heard evasive answers from that side of the House saying that government is free to bring forward legislation. The problem with that approach is that we have already seen what happens when we bring forward legislation to improve accountability. When we brought forward the Federal Accountability Act, those members kicked, screamed, squirmed and did absolutely everything possible, at nearly every stage, to delay and obstruct the legislation, and that was right after the sponsorship scandal.
The problem is that the Liberal Party has never grasped that it answers to Canadians. It has never grasped that it reports to Canadians, not the other way around.
What are Canadians to make of this?
We on this side support the motion we are debating today. There was no deliberate conspiracy to create a loophole in the Lobbying Act. We formed government at a time when Canadians were deeply mistrusting politicians and their representatives. We took quick action to create a regime that would provide accountability to all Canadians and we cast a wide net.
However, no system is perfect. We are always looking for ways to improve these rules. We will support this motion today. We are looking at options to go even further to ensure that we are all accountable to Canadians. I hope the opposition will support us in moving forward with this.
