St. Albert MP Brent Rathgeber has had a busy schedule of late, combining committee work, speaking out for open speech in Parliament and his own private member's bill.
Rathgeber said last Monday in an interview at his downtown St. Alberta office, that his private members bill, C-461, was advancing to the ethics committee in the House of Commons. The bill, CBC and Public Service Disclosure and Transparency Act, which he drafted and sponsored, seeks two things, he said.
He said it first seeks to clarify the CBC's situation when it comes to protecting its journalistic and other intellectual properties from certain freedom of information requests. Rathgeber said CBC has been in court over a dozen times to clarify whether CBC's journalists and other business information is vulnerable to freedom of information requests; CBC has maintained such information should remain privileged to protect its competitiveness.
Rathgeber said his bill recognizes that the CBC is part of the government but is also a journalistic entity. He said a prejudice test is part of his bill; if release of a document would threaten CBC's journalistic or business practices, then it should be kept secret.
He noted the second part of the bill amends the definition of personal information to allow for specific salary levels for every federal government employee to be public information, as long as the salary is over $189,000. Rathgeber said he strongly believes if a senior bureaucrat is paid with taxpayer funds, the taxpayers should be able to find out exactly how much that staff member earns and what work he does to earn that money.
One problem the MP has, though, comes from the government: the salary level is proposed at $329,000, limiting the number of civil servants it applies to. "If I get my way, it will stay at $189,000," said Rathgeber.
He said he wasn't surprised the government made a change that would limit the measure's effectiveness. "Transparency and accountability legislation is never to the benefit of the government," said Rathgeber.
"It is always to the benefit of the taxpayer."
Aboriginals
Rathgeber is a member of the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Committee, an all-party committee that vets legislation that may affect aboriginal people or northern Canada and looks at issues that may affect same.
Recently, noted Rathgeber, the committee has had a bill proposed to make changes to eventually replace the Indian Act, where dozens of witnesses gave statements. The bill was amended and sent back to the House.
Also, the committee is working on a land-use study that could help free aboriginal communities from poverty. Rathgeber said band members often have trouble building a business because, technically, they don't own their land. They can't use it for collateral. The committee is looking at other successful agreements that have changed this situation.
Another bill the committee handled is based on safe water quality on First Nations reserves. Rathgeber said this legislation will provide resources to ensure safe drinking water is always available. He said most First Nations reserves meet safe water standards, but about 30 to 50 may not. This legislation would help out those reserves.
Human rights
Rathgeber was a trendsetter recently in the House of Commons, following the controversy over B.C. MP Mark Warawa being left out of his opportunity to address the House of Commons.
A few weeks ago, noted Rathgeber, Warawa wished to use his regularly scheduled one minute of speaking time (all MPs get one on a regular basis) to speak about the practice of gender-based abortions in his riding; that is, fetuses being aborted only because they are female.
"It's a practice that is, sadly, much more common than one might think," said Rathgeber.
The PC party whip, however, didn't like the idea and removed Warawa's name from a list of MPs usually given to the Speaker of the House. Rathgeber said it probably goes back to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's statement that the abortion issue will not be re-opened in parliament.
Rathgeber disagreed. "This is not an abortion debate, this is a human rights issue," said the MP.
However, Rathgeber himself spoke up about the fact the party muzzled Warawa's chance to speak freely about an issue important to him or to the area he represents, followed later by other MPs.
"I defended Mr. Warawa's right to speak on a matter that was important to him," said Rathgeber. "I think I started a bit of a trend.
"I think the party leadership has too much control over what the members think and what the members do. There has to be some avenue for MPs to speak on matters that are important to them or important to the people they represent."
