I try not to get speeding tickets. I might inform the hon. member that where I come from in Prince Edward Island we do not need to speed to get from place to place, it is such a wonderful place to be. I can understand the member for Kindersley-Lloydminster wanting to speed to get to P.E.I. some time because of its great people and great industries. We would welcome him any time but we will not pay his speeding tickets.
The bill allows for a notice to be served by various means and the server of a notice may not necessarily be the designated person. By definition the designated person is the person who issues the notice. Service of the notice is a procedural matter best addressed by maintaining a degree of flexibility. The bill allows the matter of service of all documents including notices to be addressed by regulations, for example paragraph 4(1)(g). The regulations will make provision for service in person or by registered mail, which is appropriate.
On Motion No. 5, the member for Kindersley-Lloydminster could correct me if I am wrong but its purpose is basically to legislate a minimum time of 45 days within which a penalty may be paid. This is a procedural matter to be determined by regulation. There is certainly reason for determining some of the procedures by regulation.
We must be careful not to be overly restrictive in terms of the bill.
The member mentioned earlier that the department could become overly heavy handed. I certainly know that if it became overly heavy handed with the current minister it would be addressed. I would expect members opposite to be forever watchful in that regard. Under this legislation I do not expect the department could become overly heavy handed.
I will deal specifically with Motion No. 5. To include time frames such as these in legislation is impractical because it is very difficult to make future changes. Procedural details are generally contained in regulations or in policy documents.
The regulation process is open and fair. The preparation and drafting of regulations include consultation with the industry and the prepublication of regulations in The Canada Gazette , part I. The process will ensure that a reasonable time frame is put in regulation for the payment of a monetary penalty. It gives us some flexibility in reviewing it in the future to redress it through regulation. It might be easier to take the member's concerns into
consideration in the future, maintaining that flexibility by way of regulation.
The purpose of Motion No. 18 is to clarify that the expenses recoverable by Her Majesty with respect to the disposal of forfeited goods are reasonable. I was surprised by the hon. member's comments that maybe the minister would hire Lloyds of London to sell some goods. As he very well knows the government-and sometimes it is to the point of being of concern to some of us-is very concerned about how departments spend their limited dollars.
The House could be assured that the government or the ministry would not spend money in an unreasonable way. I challenge the member on the comment that we would go that far astray. It has always been the government's intention to administer the bill in a reasonable way. One thing about the government is that it does not need everything in legislation to be reasonable. We are a reasonable bunch to begin with and that is very well known in the community.
The last motion is Motion No. 19. Its intent is to enable a violator to rely on the defence of due diligence. We would have to oppose it. Bill C-61 allows for the issuance of monetary penalties on the basis of absolute liability. The department only needs to prove the alleged violator committed an act in violation of the regulations. The bill does not allow a defence of due diligence by which a violator can avoid liability by establishing that he or she was not negligent.
Under Bill C-61 there is no possibility of imprisonment, no record of conviction for an offence created, and 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. It is worth mentioning that although the due diligence defence does not apply, other common law defences are available to a person to whom a notice of violation is issued. Those are my comments on the motions.