Madam Speaker, when I
was asked to speak on Bill C-84 I was quite interested and enthusiastic, just as the member for Fraser Valley West was.
This bill affects small and medium-sized businesses. It is an important bill. As a business person, I have experienced the regulations at all levels of government that do not make sense today.
Bill C-84 replaces the Statutory Instruments Act, which is almost 25 years old. We have not had a serious look at it in 25 years. That is a long time. It was probably outdated 10 years ago. It is something we should have looked at a long time ago. Unfortunately, in government and in politics legislation that should be reviewed frequently is often not because there is no political pressure to review it. I hope we will look at opportunities to review legislation more often and add some sort of sunset clause so that we can modernize regulations on a regular basis.
I was disappointed to hear that the opposition is not going to support the bill. They should actually be congratulating the Minister of Justice for putting the bill before a parliamentary committee before second reading, where the principles of the bill can be examined. This is something members of the third party have often asked for. They want more participation. They want greater opportunities for members of Parliament to be involved in discussions of the bills. This is a great opportunity. Since members across the way asked for it, I thought they would be very enthusiastic and would congratulate the minister for giving that opportunity. Instead, the member for Fraser Valley West was very articulate in talking about the fact that he was not in favour of the bill.
This bill is 25 years old. It is complex, cumbersome, and a real burden to Canadians. The minister is saying we want to simplify and modernize it. We want to make sure that it makes sense for today. What do we hear from the opposition members? They cannot support it; they are not in favour of it. Are they not in favour of simplifying the bill? Are they not in favour of modernizing the bill? Are they not in favour of making sure that committees can do their work and look at this bill?
We often hear in this House about how we have to simplify regulations. We often hear how a lot of the legislation does not make sense for today and that we need to have common sense. Here the minister is providing that opportunity and the opposition members are saying they do not agree with it.
I, and I presume many other members, have been confronted with a regulation that often makes no sense for today. We then go to some of the bureaucrats and tell them this does not make sense in today's business climate, in today's environment, and in today's technology. Often some of the bureaucrats agree with us but tell us their hands are tied because the regulation is very old and has not been reviewed and therefore they have to comply with the regulation.
This is a very good opportunity for all members of Parliament to participate in the changes that are required to have an environment that is efficient. I know the members from the third party often talk about creating greater efficiencies and an environment for businesses so they can have a cost saving.
In terms of the environment, I toured a company in my own riding, Pacific Meadows, that is involved in the recycling of metal. They inform me that there are certain regulations that impede their opportunity to recycle.
Often when government forms regulations it throws this huge net out there and catches, just as it does in the fishing industry, something it does not intend to catch. It becomes an impediment for small and medium-sized companies to do their business. The net was cast out to cover all sorts of things but not intended to catch some businesses. That is why we need the opportunity, on a regular basis, to review the regulatory process and regulations to ensure that it makes sense for today's environment in terms of international trade, changes in the environment, and changes in the health care area. All those areas have to be taken into consideration. The present act does not take those things into consideration.
This bill will go a long way to ensuring that we have a simplified, modernized bill. I do not know how anybody can be against simplifying something. We have come to a new age of communications and electronics. One of the things this bill proposes is that we have an electronic registry where forms will be filled out electronically so that we can become more efficient and more cost effective. I believe that will go a long way.
I hope the members across the way will realize that small and medium-sized businesses all over this country will be disappointed with the stand they have taken to vote against modernizing a regulatory process when business people all over this country know we have to improve the way our regulatory process works. I think Canadians across this country will applaud the government and the Minister of Justice for bringing this legislation forward to modernize and simplify our regulations.