Mr. Speaker, I rise to confirm my support for the motion before the House that Bill C-43, in clause 2, be amended by deleting lines 8 to 20 on page 2.
We want to ensure that the Lobbyists Registration Act is open, transparent and that it works for the benefit of all Canadians. I mean all Canadians, not the few who feel that behind the scenes they can influence government policy and government decisions to their own particular benefit.
No greater example exists than the Pearson airport situation. It has been deliberated on in the House on many occasions over the last year or more. It was a deal struck behind the scenes by a government that, in its waning days, knew it was headed for defeat. It decided it would get all its friends rolled up into one neat little package and provide a contract worth millions of dollars over many years. One of the prime assets of the country, Toronto's Pearson International Airport, would be given to a select few at a cost to all Canadians. That is the type of thing which we want to ensure is eliminated once and for all.
We have also read the book On the Take . It is a litany of situations where, from beginning to end, government and individuals, behind closed doors, manipulate things in their favour. The innocent Canadian is left with nothing other than the bill to pay, which is in the millions of dollars. That is the type of thing we want to see stopped by this motion.
It is a two-way situation. When individuals are talking to people in government, be they cabinet ministers, backbenchers, or senior civil servants, it is a two-way street. Therefore, we must register when the public servants talk to these people, not just when the individuals talk to the government. If I phone and leave a message for a deputy minister, a cabinet minister or the director of a department and find out that he is out and he returns my call, that does not need to be registered. If he returns my call it does not need to be registered. Had I had talked to him when I called the first time, there would be a requirement for it to be registered. However, if one leaves a message to have the individual call back, the government person is now talking to the individual and it does not need to be registered. It makes no sense at all. It is a two-way street. This loophole is so big that a 747 could fly through it. In fact every day many 747s could fly through the loophole.
If the government were serious about representing Canadians, about being open and transparent about lobbyists, about ensuring that Canadians deserve better and about wanting to be perceived as a government that is honest, reliable and trustworthy, surely it would want to support the motion.
I cannot think why the government would not want to support the motion, unless it has devious things in mind and once it is in place it can tell Canadians that it has tightened up the Lobbyist Registration Act, made it more difficult, and requires more registration. It has left out the situation where bureaucrats, cabinet ministers, backbenchers or whoever talk to the individuals. That type of exchange has been eliminated from the registration act. Basically the legislation means nothing because the loophole is so wide it has destroyed the whole meaning of lobbyist registration.
That is the point we are trying to make to the government on behalf of Canadians. If the government wants the registration act to mean something, surely it would want to support the motion.