Mr. Speaker, following on the words of my colleague, when we look at these motions they deal with principles: the principle of fairness, the principle of efficiency, and the principle of cost effectiveness.
Last year the coast guard announced to the Canadian shipping industry and ports that it was going to start charging fees for services that heretofore had been paid for by the Canadian taxpayer.
The Reform Party and I believe in the concept and principle of user pay. It is not right that Canadian taxpayers living in Winnipeg, Calgary, Thunder Bay, or in Vancouver for that matter, should be subsidizing Canada's shipping industry any more than they should be subsidizing any other industry. In principle, we believe the government is going in the right direction.
There is a serious problem with this legislation. We on this side of the House would like to be able to support this legislation but if these amendments cannot be passed by the House, I fear we will not be able to support it. The powers granted to the minister under this legislation are so broad and there is no provision for accountability that down the road regulations can be changed at whim.
The minister does not even have to go through the process of gazetting. He does not have to go through the process he currently is required to go through in order to raise additional money. We fear that in the future there will be a powerful temptation on the
part of whoever is fulfilling the role of Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to use this legislation to raise additional money.
That is why we view these amendments and this part of the regulations, sections 81 through 89, as important. We believe strongly that this is a window of opportunity to ensure for all time that any future changes to the regulations with respect to fees for services the coast guard may charge will have to be dealt with fairly and up front, in a manner that is going to require Parliament's perusal.
The way it is set up now, unless these amendments are adopted, there is no requirement for scrutiny down the road. There is no requirement for any future changes to come back to the House or to come back to the standing committee. There is no requirement for any kind of review. We argue strongly that this is wrong in principle. It does not provide anything for the shippers and the people who depend on the shipping industry.
We on the standing committee heard witnesses from coast to coast telling us about their concerns with this new fee for service. They talked about the viability of their businesses. They were not in the shipping industry, but were people involved in the oil and gas business, people involved in the aggregate business, people involved in other bulk products such as iron ore, grain, lumber and coal. We heard from all these people. They have real concerns about how viable their businesses are going to be down the road as the government moves to higher and higher user fees.
Each and every witness who appeared before the committee said that before the coast guard implemented user fees, it ought to be able to justify those fees on the basis that the services it is providing are actually priced at fair market values. It should be able to justify that the services it is providing are actually services the customers want and need and that they are being delivered efficiently.
The parliamentary secretary knows there are many instances where witnesses appeared before the committee and said: "You are proposing to charge us for something that we can do ourselves for far less cost. We are willing to take that responsibility on. We will go out and service that navigational aid. We will go out and look after our own ice breaking. We will go out and look after it ourselves. We do not need the government to do it. We do not need the coast guard to do it".
The people who are being forced to pay the user fees ought to have that opportunity and that right. With the way the legislation now reads, there is no requirement on the part of the government or on the part of the minister to sit down and negotiate a deal with these people in good faith.
A hue and cry went from one end of the coast to the other after the coast guard announced its intent to collect a user fee last year. I
would suggest that there has been a fair bit of movement on the part of the coast guard to take into consideration the concerns of many of the people we heard at the standing committee and this is a good thing.
However this legislation is our window of opportunity. It is our way of guaranteeing as parliamentarians that Canada's shippers and shipping industry are not going to be faced with costs down the road that they will have no opportunity to address and which parliamentarians will have no opportunity to review.
I represent a riding that has a significant marine shipping industry. There could be changes to the regulations that we as parliamentarians may never know about unless the affected bodies complain to us. That is no way to run the country. For us to say: "We can do as we like until people yell and complain at such a level that we obviously have to stand back and take a different approach", is no way to govern the country and no way to change or enact regulations.
In closing, these amendments are important to the Reform Party. We would like to be able to support the bill. We would like to say: "In principle the oceans act is a good bill. There are still some things we would like to see changed but on balance we can support it". However unless we get the motions passed that demand some accountability from the minister, the department and the commissioner of the coast guard, I fear we cannot support the legislation.
Recently we found out that boaters from one end of the country to the other-never mind people who depend on the shipping industry-but boaters are going to be forced to pay a registration fee. If a person owns a rowboat or a canoe an annual fee will have to be paid to the government. For what?
These matters have to be debated in the House Commons and the standing committee. Right now they are not. Some bureaucrat on Kent Street dreams up a regulation and says: "This is where we can make more money. We can tag those guys. We have not tagged them before". In essence it becomes a hidden tax and it is passed without any scrutiny, without any accountability. In some instances parliamentarians are not even aware of it.
We insist that these amendments be passed. If they are not passed, the Reform Party cannot support the legislation.