Rick Dykstra

[Canada Elections Act, September 18th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I think the member has made an important point. We have had in the history of our country a number of minority governments. I believe the average length of those minority governments has been 18 months.

Throughout the history of our country and Parliament we have never had fixed election dates. Therefore, to suggest that a minority government could not last four years is a bit premature. I think it is possible with the understanding that we would need to work together, as all parties in the House should do with a minority government. It would take that effort.

I would also point out that even with a majority government and no fixed election dates, we have not always lived true to that four year timeframe. In fact, the last two majority governments have not lasted throughout the four year period of time.

I think we could suggest on the one hand, with a minority government, that we need to work together obviously to reach that point. As my colleague mentioned earlier, there is rationale built in upon us as to why a motion of confidence may come forward, but I would not like to rule out the fact that a minority government could work within the process of a four year mandate.

[Canada Elections Act, September 18th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak to this important piece of legislation. I want to thank the member for Prince George—Peace River for giving me the opportunity to do so by sharing his time with me.

On May 30, 2006 the hon. member for Niagara Falls introduced in the House of Commons Bill C-16, an act to amend the Canada Elections Act, providing for fixed election dates every four years. I know how hard the member for Niagara Falls works as he is in the riding next to mine and how much his constituents appreciate and realize the hard work he does in his riding and the Niagara region.

The establishment of fixed elections is another key campaign commitment the Conservatives made. It is an important step in improving and modernizing Canada's democratic institution and practices. This bill is another step toward restoring Canadians' faith in the political process. First, we are making the timing of elections fair and more transparent; second, we are fixing election dates in October, which will maximize voter turnout; and third, the Canadian taxpayer will save money in two respects.

Currently, Elections Canada must maintain a high state of readiness at all times because there is always the potential for either a motion of confidence or a government to fall. Elections Canada never knows when that will be and basically that costs taxpayers money.

Second, it will prevent governments from calling unnecessary elections and wasting taxpayer dollars for their own political ends. It is tough to accept for the party opposite that called two early elections when it was in power, but that is the fact.

I would like to outline where we have come from as a country and the direction that we are now headed. From an historical perspective, our Constitution does not contain many provisions regarding elections. It is limited to section 50 of the Constitution Act, which in 1867 stated:

Every House of Commons shall continue for Five Years from the Day of the Return of the Writs for choosing the House...and no longer.

Section 4(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which was preceded by the Bill of Rights introduced by Prime Minister Diefenbaker, provides as follows:

No House of Commons and no legislative assembly shall continue for longer than five years--

It also states:

--a House of Commons may be continued by Parliament and a legislative assembly may be continued by the legislature beyond five years if such continuation is not opposed by the votes of more than one-third of the members of the House of Commons...as the case may be.

A five year constitutional limit of the life of Parliament has only been exceeded once since Confederation, and that was in 1916. This bill provides for what we have all been talking about, and that is fairness. It removes the advantage that the government possesses in being able to decide and determine the date for an election. Currently, the Prime Minister is able to select a date for a general election. This allows for a governing party to potentially manipulate the timing of a general election for its own advantage.

This bill would create a level playing field for all participants in the electoral process by removing two things: uncertainty and the perceived bias to the governing party. The fairness part of this bill also allows people who are considering running or working on a campaign to get prepared.

As I indicated, elections are expensive and according to Elections Canada the 2004 general election cost taxpayers $277 million. It was an election that was called early.

There are so many examples of where fixed election dates are already in place. Municipalities across this country and provinces including British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador and Ontario have legislated fixed election dates, and other provincial governments have indicated that they are considering recommendations for similar legislation. Even Premier McGuinty in Ontario, who not only endorses the softwood lumber deal, endorses fixed elections. He stated, “And that’s why today we’re embracing the change that is central to our democracy by introducing legislation to fix the dates of elections in Ontario”. That should be no different than here in our country.

This morning I spoke to a constituent of mine, Mr. Mel Chivers, who told me that it was time to straighten out these federal elections and help move the democratic process in this country forward. I agree with Mr. Chivers. It is time that the bill be moved forward and that we take that step forward to real democratic reform.

Canadians went to the polls in 2004 before learning all the details of the sponsorship scandal because it was better for the former government to do that. It was not better for Canadians. Canadians wanted to wait but that did not matter; however, it should have.

Bill C-16 will ensure that election timing serves the needs of Canadians and not politicians. It just makes sense.

For all those reasons I believe that fixed election dates are a change whose time has come. Fixed election dates show that the government is focused on a higher degree of accountability and governments are best held to account when people can vote them in or in some cases vote them out.

I did a little research in history and referred back to the Special Joint Committee on the Constitution of Canada which deliberated from 1970 to 1972. Interestingly enough the members travelled all over the country and found at that time, over 35 years ago, that it was indeed also a topic and suggested nine times over that the potential for fixed election dates should be in fact sought.

I smiled a little. When I think about 1970 to 1972, those discussions and those debates would have happened in smoked filled rooms not just the back rooms. During that time in every building, whether it was public or private, everyone could smoke if they wanted to in those rooms. Since that time municipal governments, provincial governments and indeed the federal government determined that the health of Canadians with respect to the issue of smoking was important enough to change.

Thirty-five years later democracy is also important to the health of Canadians. That democracy needs to be changed and needs to move forward. It can always get better. Sometimes it steps back in the opinion of Canadians and gets a little worse, but then we need to take two steps forward.

Bill C-16 takes two steps forward and says to the people of this country that indeed it is about accountability, indeed it is about election reform, and indeed it is about taking action in the House of Commons.

[Petitions, June 22nd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to present in the House a petition on the subject of child care, an issue which is important to many Canadians. The petition comes from the people of the riding of Ottawa West—Nepean.

[Federal Accountability Act, June 21st, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the member listened almost closely enough to my response to the question. I indicated very clearly that our party is committed to accountability. Our party was elected to government to bring accountability. We introduced and delivered an accountability act that speaks to the very nature of what we need to clean up here in Ottawa.

The comment I made was very clear. Had the member been listening very closely, he would have heard what I said. Accountability is not on the other side of the House. Accountability is on this side of the House. A member chose to join this party. I think that member did so based on the fact that he knew that delivering on accountability rests in the party that is in government right now.

[Federal Accountability Act, June 21st, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I am not about to take a lesson on what accountability is all about from a person who crossed the floor to join a party that simply does not understand accountability, that did not even want to talk about accountability.

When I speak about accountability in terms of definition, we have not tried to pull out Webster's Dictionary and determine what accountability is from a dictionary perspective. We put 13 elements into the accountability act, which have been debated for the last four months. When I speak about defining it, it is about us, as individuals, as parliamentarians, living up to the responsibilities that are defined within those 13 elements of the act.

Clearly, as individuals elected to represent our constituents in Ottawa, we have to be prepared to live up to that act individually, based on our conscience, to do the right thing as we work here. That is what it means to live up to the 13 pieces in the accountability act.

[Federal Accountability Act, June 21st, 2006]

It had bad acting, theft and corruption.

In fact, that movie was a real life story. It was called the Gomery inquiry. We could not change the channel. We had to change the government. On January 23, we did.

That led to a whole host of changes, changes that turned a new leaf and introduced to Canadians a new government, a government with a vision, a government focused on the issues that matter to Canadians and with an action plan to accomplish what Canadians expect, a government that introduced a new culture of accountability which will forever change the way business is done in Ottawa.

It is not a movie. It is real life. The federal accountability act is about fixing the system for Canadians. It is about strengthening and streamlining how government works. It is about making government more effective. It is about providing Canadians with better access to government information.

The federal accountability act will ensure that Canadians have easier access to government information by strengthening the access to information legislation. I want to take a couple of moments to describe these changes in particular.

Through the work of the legislative committee, the federal accountability act will indeed expand the coverage of the Access to Information Act even more to include all agents of Parliament, including five foundations, which are: the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Canada Foundation for Sustainable Development Technology, the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation, the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada, and even the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. As well, the act includes crown corporations and most of their subsidiaries, excluded until now because of their commercial nature.

The federal accountability act will expand the coverage of the Access to Information Act to all crown corporations and will make government more open and transparent. Even the Canadian Wheat Board is no longer exempt, based on the amendment that passed this afternoon. Even as late as this afternoon we were working to make sure that this act makes sense, that it is going to work and that it is going to be representative of what Canadians want.

It does not stop there. The government is going to ensure that a broad range of views is considered in exploring ways to further strengthen access to information legislation. Canadians deserve better access to government information. Better access allows Canadians and organizations to participate more fully in public policy development and better assess the Government of Canada's performance. We are not scared to be there. We are not scared to be judged on the performance that we provide.

Our government has been listening and is delivering on its commitments. By expanding the coverage of the Access to Information Act, the government will become more transparent and open. It will provide Canadians with access to more information, and the act will also have the criteria for the future addition of institutions included in the regulations, making them clear, consistent and, most important, transparent. It will provide a duty for institutions to assist requesters without regard to their identity and will clarify the time limit for making a complaint under the Access to Information Act.

As all members of the House know, the Access to Information Act is a complex legislation, with a broad constituency across many sectors of our society. It includes widely divergent views on its administration.

The government is committed to accountability and transparency. That is why the government will invite parliamentarians to engage in a comprehensive debate and to consult with a broad range of stakeholders, as well as to issue a report when it reaches the end of deliberations.

The government is committed to doing the right things and to doing things right to change how business is done in Ottawa. We have proven we can, we will and we will continue to prove that we are delivering on the commitments it made to Canadians.

The reform of the Access to Information Act will be done in collaboration with parliamentarians, with Canadians and with stakeholder groups within our country. The goal is to make government more open, while balancing legitimate requirements for personal privacy, commercial confidentiality and national security. By expanding the coverage of the Access to Information Act, the government will become more transparent and more open.

The Government of Canada belongs to Canadians. It should not obstruct access to information. I promised and committed to the people of my riding, as all of us on this side of the House promised Canadians, that we would clean up government and that is what we are doing. After four short months, our track record speaks for itself. The federal accountability act will strengthen public access to government information, simple and straightforward.

The government has tabled a very important act that went through rigorous parliamentary committee scrutiny, amendment after amendment, debate after debate, hour after hour since April 11.

I look forward to working with my colleagues to rebuild the confidence and trust of the people in St. Catharines, the people in the province of Ontario and the people in every province of our country. Trust is what we are rebuilding.

Accountability is not something that can be simply defined. At the end of the day what we will have is the guiding post that will be the lamp we work under, work through and commit with. This means that each and every one of us, all 308 members sitting as parliamentarians, are still under the same responsibilities that we have acknowledged to the people who elected us. There still is the individual responsibility to ensure we live up to the act.

It takes commitment. It is going to take effort, but we have set a guiding post. By working under that guiding post called the accountability act, I think we will raise the level of respect Canadians have for this institution, for parliamentarians, for the governing party of Canada and for all of us who are here to represent our constituents.

[Federal Accountability Act, June 21st, 2006]

It was a horror movie. It was full of suspense, full of emotion, full of intrigue--

[Federal Accountability Act, June 21st, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I know that we are getting to the end of the session and we have been here a long time. We have heard the member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine talk about a couple of movies. One of them was entitled The Nutty Professor. What I find really interesting is that Canadians were forced to watch a movie for the last two and a half years--

[Petitions, June 16th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to stand in the House today to present a petition on the subject of child care, an issue that is important to many Canadians. This petition comes from the people of the riding of Vancouver Kingsway.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2006, June 6th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, certainly, a lot of visitors who drive down the QEW from Burlington to St. Catharines have nothing but glowing things to say about their member of Parliament for Burlington. Not only is he doing a great job here in the House, the people of Burlington are telling me in St. Catharines he is doing a great job for them.

The GST cut which the member speaks about is one that means a lot in the riding of St. Catharines with respect to vehicles. That is very true. General Motors operates in the city of St. Catharines. There is no doubt that the average saving that families or individuals would have when they purchase a new General Motors vehicle in St. Catharines or anywhere in this country is going to be significant when they make that purchase after July 1.