Mr. Speaker, in dealing with this group of amendments I will address two related and relevant issues.
Our efforts to fine tune the legislation in the House and earlier in committee have been primarily directed toward ensuring a proper balance between the rights and liberties of Canadians in the sector we are dealing with and the administrative exigencies as they evolve in the agricultural sector. Because we are dealing with food, in many cases some of the exigencies tend to be relatively urgent and require a prompt solution as opposed to a slow, administratively cumbersome solution.
As we strive to seek that balance in the House with the legislation, we must keep in mind that the House realizes it cannot, as is sometimes said, micro-manage the sector. We simply do not have the ability to micro-manage in all detail everything that goes on in a particular field. That is why the House by way of regulation delegates authority to administrators in government to make regulations which deal in a more specific way with the exigencies in the field.
Even then it is tough. Even then it is probably impossible to micro-manage. Many decisions that have to be made are being made in a warehouse at a border. Perhaps they are being made in a barn somewhere by inspectors and people who are growing and transporting the commodity. We ought to resist the urge in the House to overly micro-manage the field, and that is why we delegate.
We are trying to find that balance in the House and that is tricky. There is a further challenge for Parliament. Every time we delegate we say that we are giving authority or power to an official of the government. That official, in concert with the department, will be making decisions about property of others and what others can or cannot grow and transport in this field.
The challenge for Parliament is not so much today; it is down the road. We have a committee that deals ex post facto with the regulatory authority delegated by the House, the Standing Joint Committee for Scrutiny of Regulations. The more the House delegates, the more work there is for the standing joint committee. Given the large degree of delegation taking place under this statute, I see a further challenge for the standing joint committee to deal with the scrutiny of this type of regulatory delegation.
One criteria of the committee is described as the unintended or unexpected use of power. I agree it is perhaps a little fuzzy. However, should an official, the department, the minister or the cabinet at some future date authorize the taking of a step that could be construed as an unexpected or unintended use of power, the committee would point it out to the House. The committee also has the power of disallowance which it has used a half a dozen times in the last four or five years. It prefers not to do so. It is a procedure the House would rather not have the committee use but when necessary it does so.
To the extent we are delegating and trying to fine tune that delegation, there will remain to a greater or lesser degree a significant challenge to the committee structure created by the House in reviewing the appropriateness of the use of the authority and power we delegate.
It is not to detract from our efforts here to find the right balance between rights and liberties and administrative efficiency.
I think all members have the same view and I will continue to participate in this debate in the hope that we achieve the proper balance so the administrators, the minister, the deputy ministers, departmental officials and the cabinet will have the right tools and the right balance so our citizens will get the best services and the best considerations under this statute.