moved:
Motion No. 2
That Bill C-18 be amended by adding, immediately after line 18, on page 9, the following new Clause:
"Government Organization Act (Federal Agencies)
"23.3 The definition "Minister" in section 66 of the Government Organization Act (Federal Agencies) is replaced by the following:
"Minister" means the Minister of Health."
Motion No. 4
That Bill C-18 be amended by deleting Clause 36.
Mr. Speaker, these are purely technical amendments to Bill C-18. As other colleagues have indicated, it was formerly known as Bill C-95. These two amendments have become necessary primarily due to the reintroduction of the bill following the prorogation of Parliament.
The Government Organization Act has now become law and as a result it requires two amendments to Bill C-18. It is proposed that a new clause, subsection 23.3, be added to indicate that in the Government Organization Act, the word "minister" does in fact mean the Minister of Health.
As you will know, Mr. Speaker, previously the department was known as the department of national health and welfare and the minister was known as the minister thereof. This amendment is changes the name of the minister to be consistent with the rest of the bill.
Motion No. 4 deletes clause 36, which is a conditional amendment that has the same effect when referring to former Bill C-65. The Government Organization Act amends the statutes that establish 15 federal agencies and dissolves 7 federal organizations. As far as Health Canada is concerned, this dissolves the board of trustees of the Queen Elizabeth II Canadian fund to aid in research on the diseases of children. It does not eliminate the funding. That continues under the administration of the Medical Research Council. It does eliminate the board of trustees.
That is really all there is to say about these two amendments. I look forward to speedy passage thereof.