Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be able to speak this morning on the agriculture and agri-food administration of monetary penalties act. It is good legislation in the circumstances.
Presently, when an inspector under the agri-food act determines that offences have been committed under the statute, he must proceed through the criminal justice system and the whole process gets rolling. An information is laid through the attorney general's office, appearances begin in court, adjournments are made, the cost and time of not only the court administration, the cost of defence counsel, the cost of prosecuting counsel and the time it takes from beginning to end could be months if not years, depending on what the situation is.
The alternative method proposed in Bill C-61 is to establish a system of administrative monetary penalties, so that an inspector when he determines that an offence has taken place under the agri-food act, can impose a fine on the offender immediately, rather than proceeding through the judicial system. I think that is a very good procedure to be following.
The objective is to create a system that allows the officials of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to issue monetary penalties for serious or repeated violations of the regulations. The monetary penalties vary from $15,000 for companies to $2,000 for individuals. The legislation also establishes an independent tribunal to hear appeals of the proposed monetary penalties. Safeguards are still built into the system.
The AMP, if I may refer to that acronym, adds to the enforcement options available to agri-food prosecutors. The system still provides the department with appropriate responses when dealing with the violations of regulations such as in the marketing of inedible food products or the inhumane transportation of animals.
The term administrative monetary penalty is used to differentiate the monetary penalties which are administrative in nature from fines which are imposed by the court system for convictions of regulatory offences.
I will speak to some of the motions involved, but I submit that this is good government. It still provides a framework wherein Canada's high standards for food safety are maintained. That is essential. We are also assisting Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
to enforce health and safety standards consistently, not only for imported foods but for domestic food products as well.
Further, we are regulating in a more efficient and cost effective way. In this time of restraint, cost effectiveness is a very important item. Therefore, we are going to require less time and money to pursue these offences than we would otherwise do through the provincial court system.
The maintenance of a safe food supply is essential and Bill C-61 allows for the issuance of monetary penalties and is necessary to encourage industries to adhere. We do not really want them punished if they do not comply but we do want compliance. It is necessary that they adhere to these regulations such as in the areas of pesticides and animal and plant health. On matters touching food, the food chain and public health standards of conduct, they must be extremely high and the reasons are obvious.
I would also like to refer to the competitiveness of Bill C-61. I suggest that it supports the competitiveness of the agricultural sector by responding to requests for more equitable enforcement of regulations for imported and domestic products. Our domestic industry has complained for years that the standards for safety and quality are more strictly applied to them than to their competitors, especially offshore competitors and that is not fair.
Our industry supports the system because it allows Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to respond quickly and effectively when importers or domestic industries market products that do not conform to our high standards in the area of food safety or in the safe use of pesticides. Equal enforcement of these standards for both imports and domestics enhances the competitiveness of the agricultural sectors.
Giving Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada the proper tools to effectively enforce these standards will help it to maintain Canada's fine reputation for healthy and safe food products. It is the reputation of our agri-food sector that suffers when exported products do not meet our health standards. They blame it on us, as a domestic supplier and that is not fair. Let us bring it all up to the same standards.
As an alternative to prosecution and with my background, I think this is a very key item in times of restraint. In the current climate of restraint, we need simple, efficient, cost effective ways for dealing with industries that do not comply with the regulations for food health and safety. Bill C-61 provides a fair but quick and expedient method for responding to regulatory violations.
The administrative procedure provided by Bill C-61 is an alternative to prosecuting regulatory offences in the provincial courts. It is faster and far less costly to both the department and the offender. We have to also remember the offender has to put up the cost of legal counsel and is away from the business, et cetera.
Administrative penalties are another step in the decriminalization of regulatory infractions. Unlike the situation where regulatory principles are prosecuted by the courts, Bill C-61 creates a decriminalized system. It does not provide for imprisonment or receiving a record of conviction of an offence. We do not want to make criminals out of these people, but we do want them to comply.
Administrative monetary penalties are a much fairer way of enforcement for most regulatory infractions. When it hurts you in the pocketbook, it hurts. A record may be a stigma in perpetuity, but when you have to come up with some hard cash out of your pocket you often think twice, and deservedly so.
Another aspect is negotiated settlement possibilities. This allows for negotiated solutions to non-compliance. What we really want them to do is comply. Even the monetary penalties can be reduced to zero if they would use the money to buy corrective equipment. Immediate action to correct the situation is much better than money into the coffers of the judicial system.
I might address some of the motions that have been put forward. Dealing perhaps with Motion No. 3, to vary the maximum penalty between first and subsequent violations, the current maximum penalties are relatively modest when we look at them. The bill does not make any distinction between first and subsequent violations for the purposes of setting a maximum penalty that could be assessed. However, the regulations will determine a base penalty in the range amount and circumstances under which the penalties may be increased or reduced.
Compliance history is one of the factors we set out in the regulations. Penalties will be reduced for violators with no previous history of non-compliance and increased for those who commit subsequent offences, as they deservedly should. Under subclause 4(3) of Bill C-61, penalty amounts may be increased or decreased based on the degree of intention or negligence on the part of the person who committed the violation, the amount of harm done by the violation, and the compliance history of the person who committed the offence.
Perhaps I could address Motion No. 4. The purpose is to have a notice of violation identify the designated person serving the notice. Service is an essential point of any court proceeding, and sometimes technicalities arise on service that result in the offender walking from the situation.
I suggest that the bill allows that a notice may be served by various means. That is progression. The server of the notice may not necessarily be the designated person. By definition, the desig-
nated person is the person who issues the notice. Service of the notice is a procedural matter and is best addressed by maintaining a degree of flexibility. We want to be flexible.
The bill allows that the matter of service of all documents, including notices, will be addressed by regulations. For example, the regulation will make provision for service in person or by registered mail. We have these procedures in other court systems, in family law, et cetera. That is not unreasonable.
The purpose of Motion No. 5 is to legislate a minimum of 45 days within which a penalty may be paid. Again I suggest that this is a procedural matter which could be determined by the regulation. To put time frames such as this in legislation really is impractical. It makes it very difficult to make changes in the event that the penalty could not be paid within the time frame.
Procedural details are generally contained in regulations or in policy documents. That is where they belong. The regulation making process really is open and fair. The preparation and drafting of regulations includes consultation with industry and the prepublication of the regulations in The Canada Gazette to give everyone sufficient notice. The process will ensure that a reasonable time frame is put in regulations for the payment of a monetary penalty. They are not going to escape. We have to be reasonable. Forty-five days may not be, as the minister of agriculture has suggested.
Motion No. 18 seems acceptable to us. The object of the motion is to clarify that expenses recoverable by Her Majesty in respect of the disposal of forfeited goods are reasonable. We want to be reasonable and we accept this motion as certainly reasonable in that situation.
The purpose of Motion No. 19 is to enable a violator to rely on the defence of due diligence. Bill C-61 allows for the issuance of monetary penalties based on absolute liability. That situation happens when the department only needs to prove that the alleged violator committed an act that was in violation of the regulations. The bill does not allow for the defence of due diligence by which a violator can avoid liability for the offence by establishing that he or she was not negligent.
Under Bill C-61 there is no possibility of imprisonment. There is no record of conviction for an offence. Penalties are modest rather than punitive in nature. Because of these factors there is no constitutional or other legal impediment to proceeding on the basis of absolute liability.
From a policy perspective, the use of absolute liability is essential to encourage the food industry to exhibit a high standard of care. This is important for matters involving the food chain and is consistent with the approach of courts in civil matters. The concept of absolute liability is important to the effectiveness of the system as a preventive measure.
We had the situation of some children being allergic to peanut butter. There was a very important incident where a young lady reacted to peanut butter and died rather quickly.
I see that you are rising, Mr. Speaker.