Liberal MP Roy Cullen is on a collision course with his own government over the way federal departments and agencies create and adjust user-fees.

Not satisfies with Treasury Board's recent overhaul of these fees tacked on to services provided by the Canadian Government for such things as passports, he remains as determined as ever to push his own bill on the matter through Parliament.

It should prone to by and interesting battle given that the bill, C-212, already got the green light by the House's Finance Committee last spring and is slated for third reading this fall.

The government considers the matter closed, now that Treasury Board President Lucienne Robillard (Westmount-Ville-Marie, Que) brought in a revised policy on user-fees earlier this month. But last week in a phone interview from his riding, Mr. Cullen (Etobicoke North, Ont.) made it clear he is out to prove her wrong.

" The problem is that here is still a gap between what the new policy says and what my bill says, " he stressed , adding that he will try to "trade up" his bill with another MP so that C-212 hits the Order Paper as quickly as possible.

Parliament returns from its summer recess today, Sept. 15.

Mr. Cullen has three major concerns with the government's new External Charging Policy, which came into effect on aug. 12 and which
Treasury Board unveiled on Sept. 3 It replaced the Cost Recovery and Charging Policy adopted in 1997.

Unlike his bill, he said the new policy does not penalize departments or agencies that fail to meet the performance standards that they set out when charging user-fees, nor does it introduce an independent dispute resolution mechanism. And finally, he said the policy also lacks proper Parliamentary oversight.
While conceding that Treasury Board's new policy is and improvement over the old one, Mr. Cullen said that his bill " Hoes further" and expressed confidence that he has the numbers in the House to het it passed. "If the government would move further than they are now, I would be happy with that. Without that, the Parliament of Canada will decide what policy it prefers," he said.

A spokesperson for Ms. Robillard (Westmount-Ville-Marie, Que) said that the government will not support Mr. Cullen's bill. "We have a very good policy which addresses many of those concerns. But basically, we don't support the bill. Our policy does the work," said Daniel Grenier, the minister's communications director.

Ms. Robillard's job will now be to convince MPs from her caucus that her new policy has addressed the transparency and accountability issues surrounding user-fees which critics claim too often are arbitrarily increased by public servants without proper consultations. It may be a tough sell, as the bill already has widespread support from both government and opposition MPs.

 

Liberal MP Nic Descepola (Vaudreuil-Soulanges, Que.), vice-chair of the House Finance Committee, voted for Mr. Cullen's bill at committee stage and said last week he continues to support it in principle. He said that wasn't aware of Treasury Board's new policy and would wait to hear from the government before deciding whether to support Bill C-212 when it comes to a vote in the House.

"I'll see what happens. I'd like to hear what the government has to say. But I'm certainly supportive of C-212," he said.

Mr. Discepola added, however, that he has reservations with the provision in Mr. Cullen's bill requiring the government to table every fee increase in Parliament. He said that, given the vast number of user-fees currently in place, the practice could bog down Parliament.

Mr. Cullen's bill would make every user fee hike subject to review by a relevant parliamentary committee and subsequently be put to a vote in the House. As the vote would be non-binding, however, Parliament's input would only be followed if the responsible Cabinet minister accepts it.
The bill also forces departments and agencies to meet their standards for processing services or else face a reduction in the relevant user-fee involved. Penalties come into play when timelines are missed by over 10 per cent.

"If they say it's going to take 100 days to process something and it takes 130 days on average than the user fee is reduced by 30 per cent. That gives the bill the teeth that we need," said Mr. Cullen.

This provision responds to the many concerns raises with the way Health Canada approves new drugs.

Mario Baril, a Treasury Board spokesman, dismissed Mr. Cullen's concerns, stressing that the new policy " clearly demonstrates the governments' commitment to increasing transparency and accountability in the area of external charging."

Mr. Baril stressed that it will force any department or agency introducing new fees or amending existing ones to appoint a senior official to oversee user-fees and report on plans and performance to Parliament.
He also said the policy requires departments to "establish and publicize" dispute management process. Ministers would be able to establish independent advisory bodies as they see fit.

The government dramatically increased the number of user-fees it charges in the 1990s as part of its on-going efforts to cut the deficit.