House of Commons Debates VOLUME 147 Ï NUMBER 036 Ï 2nd SESSION Ï 41st PARLIAMENT OFFICIAL REPORT (HANSARD) Tuesday, January 28, 2014 Speaker: The Honourable Andrew Scheer CONTENTS (Table of Contents appears at back of this issue.) 2201 HOUSE OF COMMONS Tuesday, January 28, 2014 The House met at 10 a.m. ACCESS TO INFORMATION ACT Mr. Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre, NDP) moved for leave to introduce Bill C-567, An Act to amend the Access to Information Prayers Act (transparency and duty to document). He said: Mr. Speaker, I thank my seconder. ROUTINE PROCEEDINGS I rise today to introduce the bill to amend the Access to Information Act to strengthen the powers of the Information Ï (1000) Commissioner. Conservative members present may recognize the [English] elements of the bill, as they are all taken directly from the Conservative election campaign of 2006, when Conservatives PRIVACY COMMISSIONER purported to believe in open government. The Speaker: I have the honour to lay upon the table the special The bill would give the Information Commissioner the power to report of the Privacy Commissioner entitled “Checks and Controls: order the release of documents and to have those orders enforced as Reinforcing Privacy Protection and Oversight for the Canadian if they were judgments of the Federal Court. It would codify the duty Intelligence Community in an Era of Cyber-Surveillance”. to create and retain documents and would introduce a public interest [Translation] override to oblige disclosure of documents when the Commissioner determines that public interest outweighs the need for secrecy. It Pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(h), this report is deemed would make cabinet confidences an exclusion subject to the opinion permanently referred to the Standing Committee on Access to and review of the Commissioner, and it would ensure that all Information, Privacy and Ethics. exemptions from disclosure are justified only on the basis of harm and injury that would result from disclosure, not from blanket *** exemptions. [English] Freedom of information is the oxygen that democracy breathes. It CANADA-HONDURAS ECONOMIC GROWTH AND is a fundamental cornerstone of our democracy that the public has PROSPERITY ACT the right to know what its government is doing, and that right should Hon. Peter Van Loan (for the Minister of International Trade) be subject only to a very few and specific exclusions. moved for leave to introduce Bill C-20, An Act to implement the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the Republic of It is our hope that these simple reforms would help shine the light Honduras, the Agreement on Environmental Cooperation between of day on the workings of government, and in doing so elevate the Canada and the Republic of Honduras and the Agreement on Labour standards of ethical behaviour and good public administration. Cooperation between Canada and the Republic of Honduras. (Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed) (Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed) *** *** Ï (1005) INTERPARLIAMENTARY DELEGATIONS [Translation] Ms. Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain, NDP): Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1), I have the honour to present, in FORMER CANADIAN FORCES MEMBERS ACT both official languages, the reports of the Canadian group of the Interparliamentary Union respecting their participation at the 129th Mr. Tarik Brahmi (Saint-Jean, NDP) moved for leave to IPU assembly and related meetings in Geneva, Switzerland from introduce Bill C-568, An Act respecting former Canadian Forces October 4 to October 9, 2013. members. 2202 COMMONS DEBATES January 28, 2014 Speaker's Ruling He said: Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity today recognize the importance of the Experimental Lakes Area and to to introduce a bill that will allow our veterans to get the best health reverse the decision to close and defund the Experimental Lakes care, even after they have left the Canadian Forces. association. It is important to remember that too many of our young heroes, particularly those who served in the hell that was Afghanistan, came *** home physically and psychologically broken, and too many of them made the ultimate sacrifice. QUESTIONS ON THE ORDER PAPER This bill will allow our military personnel to continue receiving Mr. Tom Lukiwski (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the same level of health care after being honourably discharged from the Government in the House of Commons, CPC): Mr. Speaker, I the Canadian Forces. ask that all questions be allowed to stand. I am encouraged by the fact that the government and Conservative The Speaker: Is that agreed? members never miss an opportunity to remind us how much they support our military personnel and their families. Some hon. members: Agreed. This is a tremendous opportunity for the members of all parties to turn words into actions by supporting a change that would provide *** justice to those who have made sacrifices for us. (Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed) POINTS OF ORDER *** ORAL QUESTIONS—SPEAKER'S RULING [English] The Speaker: On December 9, 2013, the House leader of the PETITIONS official opposition raised various issues relating to question period. CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Other members from all parties in the House have from time to time voiced similar concerns. In view of the desire for clarification Hon. John McKay (Scarborough—Guildwood, Lib.): Mr. regarding the rules and practices governing the conduct of question Speaker, I have three petitions. The first petition calls upon the period, I undertook to return to the House and I would like to take a Government of Canada to mandate corporate social responsibility. few minutes now to address the principles that govern this The petitioners are appalled by the activities of the extractive proceeding. industry, particularly in the eastern Congo, where they see the iron fist of Canada against indigenous populations. A good place to start is Chapter 11 of the second edition of House They would allow the CSR to be legally binding here, and they of Commons Procedure and Practice, which describes the evolution would reinvigorate Bill C-300, which was a vote that was lost in the of question period from an historical perspective. What is last Parliament. immediately apparent is that the practice of members posing oral Hon. John McKay (Scarborough—Guildwood, Lib.): Mr. questions to the government has been a part of our daily proceedings Speaker, the second petition is signed by literally thousands of since before Confederation. The longevity and staying power of this Canadians, again concerning the implementation of binding practice flows from the very principles that underpin our system of legislation with respect to corporate social responsibility, the rule parliamentary democracy. of law and good governance and democracy. Ï (1010) The petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to adopt legislation which would be binding upon the EDC and other [Translation] Canadian corporate bodies and be contingent upon compliance with corporate social responsibilities. They also call upon CIDA, which is As House of Commons Procedure and Practice, Second Edition, of course now defunct, to comply with the— states at page 491: The Speaker: I would like to remind the hon. member that members are supposed to provide a very brief summary when they The right to seek information from the Ministry of the day and the right to hold that Ministry accountable are recognized as two of the fundamental principles of are presenting a petition and certainly not to read it. parliamentary government. Members exercise these rights principally by asking questions in the House. The importance of questions within the parliamentary system It looks like the member has some other petitions, so I will ask cannot be overemphasized and the search for or clarification of information through him to keep that in mind as he tables them. questioning is a vital aspect of the duties undertaken by individual Members. Hon. John McKay: Mr. Speaker, I will take that admonition seriously. [English] EXPERIMENTAL LAKES AREA That is not to say that it is only recently that the conduct of Hon. John McKay (Scarborough—Guildwood, Lib.): Mr. question period has become a topic of public debate. On the contrary, Speaker, the third and final petition concerns the Experimental virtually every Speaker at one time or another has had something to Lakes Area. The petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to say about question period. January 28, 2014 COMMONS DEBATES 2203 Speaker's Ruling In the 1870s, for example, when question period was still in its [English] infancy, Speaker Anglin declared that members ought to confine themselves to seeking information from the government and that it was not appropriate to "proceed to descant on the conduct of the Government" . By the 1940s, Speaker Glen was pointing to the need For example, that is why my predecessors and I have frequently for questions to be brief and that these "must not be prefaced by any ruled out of order questions regarding election expenses. Elections argument". It was always understood, of course, that questions were Canada is an independent, non-partisan agency of Parliament. While to relate to matters that were "urgent and important". Other in a technical sense there is a government minister responsible for guidelines came and went, depending on the times. Elections Canada—the minister transmits the agency's estimates, for [Translation] example—the fact remains that the Chief Electoral Officer reports to the House through the Speaker. As Speaker Milliken noted in a In the early 1960s, Speaker McNaughton unsuccessfully tried to ruling given on October 22, 2007, at page 209 of Debates, it is enforce several long-standing unwritten rules regarding the content difficult to ask questions about Elections Canada to the government of questions.