Justice Committee on March 16th, 2010

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Fast]

Are there any other questions? Is there any further discussion?

Hearing none, I'll call the question on G-1.

(Amendment agreed to)

(Clause 1 as amended agreed to)

Now I understand the government is also proposing a new clause 2, which would be labelled amendment G-2.

Mr. Dechert, did you want to present that?

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

Yes, Mr. Chair, thank you very much.

The government would also like to propose that Bill C-464 be amended by adding, after line 14 on page 1, the following:

2. This Act comes into force 90 days after the day on which it receives royal assent.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Fast]

Thank you.

Mr. Comartin, I understand you had a question of our justice officials.

[Joe Comartin, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Yes. I understand your normal policy for wanting this time gap, but this is a very straightforward amendment. Certainly, if you need to send notices out to the prosecutors and judiciary, you could do that in advance, letting them know that the act is coming into effect. I just don't see the reason for adding another 90 days to something like this.

[Anouk Desaulniers]

During our discussions with the provinces, since they are principally responsible for the administration of justice and act as prosecutors in criminal cases, they asked us, in a general way, when amendments deal with criminal proceedings, to give them some latitude in implementing the amendments over time so that they can give their prosecutors the necessary notification and provide them with training where necessary.

As you point out, this amendment is more limited, but we still wanted to use best practice, which up to now has worked well for the provinces.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Fast]

Mr. Comartin, do you have a follow-up on that?

[Joe Comartin, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

I understand the normal process and why the provinces ask for that if there is anything that is complicated. I understand the general policy behind it, but it's just not applicable here. We can let the department and the minister off the hook if they want by having us make the decision.

I am going to be voting against this amendment. I would like this to come into effect as soon as it clears the Senate and gets royal assent.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Fast]

Thank you.

We'll go to Mr. Murphy and then Monsieur Ménard.

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

If I am not mistaken, you said that the provinces generally needed us to let them know about these changes in the law. For this bill in particular, has the government had any discussions about the amendments?

[Anouk Desaulniers]

We have not had specific discussions about the coming into force of the bill. It has been brought to the attention of the provinces, certainly through the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Working Group on Criminal Procedure.

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Just to finish on that, because it was a general suggestion--and I am totally in agreement with Mr. Comartin that it was a general suggestion and not a specific one--ninety days might be just the period in which this constellation of events might occur, that this exact situation might occur, and I don't think we need to wait ninety days, so I will not be supporting the amendment. I don't want to say I am supporting Mr. Comartin so early in the season, but I'm not supporting the amendment.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Fast]

Mr. Ménard.

[Serge Ménard, Bloc, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

I would just like to take advantage of the presence of the officials from the Department of Justice to get a little information.

It reads: “2. This act comes into force 90 days after the day on which it receives royal assent.“ Does that mean that the government is still free to delay assent, or even withhold it for ever?

[Anouk Desaulniers]

I confess in all honesty that I am not familiar with parliamentary procedure. I defer to the expertise of the committee on that.

[Serge Ménard, Bloc, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

The Criminal Code always contains amendments to legislation. They have been in the Criminal Code for 30 years, but they have never come into force.

I can specifically mention some provisions about the use of breathalyzers and the requirement to provide specimens. Without much of an exaggeration, that has been about 30 years.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Fast]

Ms. Desaulniers, do you want to respond to that?

[Anouk Desaulniers]

There is a mechanism that allows a section to provide that various sections of the bill shall not come into force until an order has been issued, even after the bill has received royal assent. Perhaps this mechanism is the reason why some provisions of the Criminal Code are still not in force. Most bills do not come into force at the time of royal assent, but afterwards.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Fast]

Thank you.

Is there any further discussion on amendment G-2?

Mr. Dechert.

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

You've heard from the Department of Justice officials. My simple understanding is that this is just a best practice, such that whenever there is an amendment to legislation such as the Criminal Code, there is an administrative period for the prosecutors and other public servants who need to deal with it in order to change their practices and procedures to comply with the law.

However, I would not want to see the unanimity of support for this bill damaged in any way, so given what seems to be the preponderance of the view on the other side that they would not want to support this amendment, I am willing to withdraw it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Fast]

You'll need the support of the rest of the committee members.

Does everyone agree to have this amendment withdrawn? I see consensus here.

(Amendment withdrawn)

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

If I could just point out, too, it's my understanding that the government has every intention of implementing this as soon as possible.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Fast]

Thank you for that clarification.

Shall the title carry?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Fast]

Shall the chair report the bill as amended to the House?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.