Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure for me this afternoon to speak on Bill C-4, an act to amend the Standards Council of Canada Act.
What are standards? Standards are measures of dimension, of quality, of exactness, serving as examples or principles to which others conform or should conform or by which the accuracy or quality of others is judged.
Many Canadian and international organizations strive to attain and maintain a certain level of standardization in fields relating to construction, manufacture, production, quality performance, and safety of buildings, structures, manufactured articles, products and other goods not expressly provided by law.
For example, electric plug manufacturers want their products to work safely and efficiently. Therefore they build their electrical plugs to fit into standardized wall sockets. These plugs must also conduct a standardized level of electricity and allow household appliances to work without sparking a fire.
As members can understand from this example, we need standards in the smallest details of our lives. Standards are critical in protecting the safety of Canadians and in ensuring their economic prosperity and the well-being of their children both now and in the future.
For instance, how do Canadians know that their children's bicycle helmets will protect them when they fall or collide? How do Canadians know that the windows in their houses will keep the heat in while keeping out the cold of the winter? How do Canadians know that their TV reception will not go fuzzy when they turn on their home computers? The answer is standards.
Standards are crucial in protecting Canadian people and in ensuring that goods and services will reach a level of quality on which Canadians can depend.
In addition, increasing global trade forces Canadian companies to agree on international standards. Canadian manufacturers know that their products must meet the requirements of various countries around the world or they will not be able to export and trade abroad.
Canada's trade agreements, NAFTA, GATT and the internal trade agreement, prohibit the use of standards as trade barriers. However, international co-operation relating to standards is crucial to Canada's economic growth.
The bill before us today deals with the Standards Council of Canada. The mandate of this crown corporation is to promote standardization with the hope "of advancing the national economy, benefiting the public, protecting consumers and facilitating trade and furthering international co-operation". These all relate to standards.
What are the main elements of Bill C-4? First, it expands the current mandate of the Standards Council to all areas where standardization is not already provided for by law.
Second, Bill C-4 involves more Canadian volunteers in standards activities and promotes communication between governments and the private sector.
Third, Bill C-4 reduces the number of council members from 57 to 15 and adds qualifications for private sector representatives.
Fourth, Bill C-4 changes in the English version the titles of the president and vice-president to chairperson and vice-chairperson respectively.
Fifth, Bill C-4 specifies the duties of the chairperson.
Sixth, Bill C-4 establishes the provincial-territorial advisory committee and the standards development organizations advisory committee.
Finally, Bill C-4 specifies that meetings of the council and its committees may be held through electronic means.
These are amendments to the Standards Council of Canada Act that the Reform Party of Canada can support. I will only comment on a few elements of this bill.
The Standards Council of Canada membership would be reduced from 57 to 15. This is an important change. The council would be able to meet more often with fewer people. Presently the council only meets twice a year for a day each time. This is hardly enough time to co-ordinate, develop and administer efficient and effective standards, especially in today's electronic world with so many rapid changes occurring.
Telecommunications and computers are advancing so rapidly that it is difficult to develop standards quickly enough to keep up with these changes. It is common sense that a smaller membership, meeting more frequently, would be an improved means of dealing with the complexities of standards implementation in this fast changing world.
Using modern technology to hold electronic council meetings is also a bold step for a crown corporation to take to operate more effectively. These kinds of meetings can build efficiencies and save tax dollars. We encourage the council to continue to experiment with ideas of this kind.
The Standards Council of Canada membership would also change under Bill C-4. The number of public servant members on the council would decrease from six to one. This is a change that would hopefully make the Standards Council of Canada more representative of the Canadian people and the Canadian industry that depend on these standards.
Too often in the past government decisions have been made by an elitist and insensitive group of public servants in Ottawa who have no direct contact with the desires and needs of the Canadian people who are trying to make the economy work. This requires change, but it needs to change not only with the Standards Council of Canada but with all of government.
Public policy needs to be designed and implemented by the applicable level of government closest to the Canadians affected. Canadians must have a direct say in what government plans and what government brings into effect. When this happens, the government can in the words of Pericles be called "a democracy because power is in the hands not of the few but of the many".
I am not suggesting a new idea. The private sector membership of the council would also change under Bill C-4. To make the council more open, accessible and accountable, members would be representative of a broad spectrum of interests and would have the experience necessary to assist the council in fulfilling its mandate. This change would hopefully allow those most affected by the council's resolutions to have a direct say in this decision making.
I will comment on the Standards Council of Canada's financial situation. Its operating expenses this year were estimated at $9,847,000. Its revenues were estimated at $4,663,000, but its budget for 1996-97 is estimated at $5,184,000. That is quite a saving. I congratulate the council.
We commend the Standards Council of Canada for its efforts to reach full cost recovery, but it has not gone far enough. It needs to take further steps by being even more innovative in covering all of its operating costs. In doing this the Standards Council of Canada would be setting an example for all of government.
Therefore we challenge the government and we challenge all crown corporations to follow the standards council's lead. We challenge them to examine their operating budgets, to find areas where they can offer programs more efficiently and to find where costs can be fully recovered. More important, we challenge them to find ways to become more accessible and more accountable to the people they serve. They will be doing what is right for Canada and what is fair and necessary for all Canadians.