Very negative, as the hon. member for Glengarry-Prescott-Russell is saying.
This is not necessary, because the bill is a good bill, with good ideas. There have been a lot of changes in this area of the law, and that is important. This is a renewal, and that is why it is important, because nothing was done in this area for several years.
The other aspect of the bill I wanted to mention was the fact that the changes the government is proposing in simplifying the whole regulatory process one hopes-it is a hope that is fervent on my part, but I am not sure I am fully expecting it to be fulfilled-will result in more efficient use of the regulatory process.
As a member of the scrutiny of regulations committee, one of the criticisms I have of the current process is the slowness with which things move. I know that citizens I run into who are operating businesses find it passing strange that it takes the government so long to make changes to regulations that are shown to be out of date and inapplicable in the circumstances.
I did not bring any horror stories with me today. I have not had a recent incident. However, I am aware that over the years members of the public have complained that a regulation is out of date, should have been changed, the standards in the industry have changed dramatically and the regulation no longer reflects industrial practice and is simply not enforced because nobody is obeying the regulation. Yet nobody gets around to making changes to it. Part of the reason no one gets around to making these changes is because of the time it takes to get changes effected in government regulations. It is a process that takes months or years. Because of that we have suffered.
The regulatory regime in Canada is nowhere near as good as it should be. It could be improved drastically if change could be effected more quickly. This bill will allow that. To that extent, it is a beneficial change. We may want to look at the ways it allows it, we may want to look at the safeguards built into the process, but the fact is that the bill does allow more efficiency. For that reason alone, I think it is worth supporting.
As I say, I am surprised to hear my colleague from Bourassa say that he will not vote for the bill at this stage when we are not approving it in principle. We are simply referring the bill to committee before second reading. I know what has happened. He has listened to somebody else in his party who decided that the party should vote against it and he is going along with that. If he had argued in the right places I think he could have convinced his leader and the other members of his party that they should be supporting the bill.
I am not sure of the position of the Reform Party. Unfortunately, I missed their speaker on this bill. But I understand that the Reform Party is also opposed to the bill.