Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today in the House of Commons to speak on Bill C-18, an act to amend the Customs Act and the Criminal Code.
As stated by previous speakers, this piece of legislation concerns the authority we are prepared to accord customs officers. Bill C-18 would grant designated customs officers the power to arrest without warrant and to release from custody any cases where an arrest without warrant by a peace officer is permitted. These designated officers can detain such individuals until they are able to hand them over to peace officers as defined under section 2 of the Criminal Code.
This bill received unanimous support from members of the justice committee, which included my colleague from West Nova on behalf of the PC caucus. On his behalf and on behalf of our caucus I would like to commend the representatives from the customs and excise workers union for their very informative presentations given in support of this bill.
Part of my riding of Madawaska—Restigouche runs along the Canada-U.S. border and is home to many customs and excise workers. I therefore have firsthand knowledge of the many duties and responsibilities these federal employees discharge on a daily basis. Bill C-18 gives these border employees needed resources to keep our country safe.
Ironically this government bill comes forward for debate from the justice committee without amendment less than a week after this House debated Bill C-211, a private member's bill sponsored by my Reform colleague from Langley—Abbotsford.
That bill dealt with granting peace officers additional authority with respect to arrest warrants for offenders who have breached their conditions of parole. The Liberals unfortunately continued to reject this worthwhile bill. Apparently what is good for the government goose is not good for the opposition gander.
In any case I will attempt to restrict my comments to the substance of this legislation, Bill C-18. One of the most positive elements of Bill C-18 is the proposal to add a section to the Customs Act which would allow customs officers to handle impaired driving situations in the same way peace officers do.
This section of Bill C-18 is so important because it gives our customs officers more power to respond to individuals who enter Canada and who are suspected of being impaired drivers. As we discussed several months ago in the House, Canada has more than enough problems with its domestic drunk drivers. This section of Bill C-18 would help clamp down on the import of drunk drivers.
Bill C-18 will also confer on customs officers any responsibilities which fall to a peace officer under sections 495 to 497 of the Criminal Code, as well as under subsections 493(3) and 497(3) upon the designation by the Minister of National Revenue.
Another section of Bill C-18 however clearly states that these designated officers may not use their new found responsibilities for the sole purpose of searching for evidence. This appears to be a reasonable limitation on individual rights.
The final portion of Bill C-18 is technical in nature, proposing two amendments to the Criminal Code which will ensure its correspondence with the new section of the Customs Act.
There were some concerns regarding the potentially negative consequences of Bill C-18. At the justice committee my colleague, the hon. member for West Nova, raised the possibility of responsibilities being downloaded to customs officers without the appropriate resources being allocated by the federal government. Officials from both Revenue Canada and the customs employees union happily reported that this would not be the case.
In closing, I would like to emphasize the non-partisan nature in which Bill C-18 was handled. The government acted in response to an expressed concern from customs employees. The opposition parties raised legitimate concerns at the committee level with respect to potentially negative consequences of the bill yet there was not any political grandstanding or obstacle placed in the path of dealing with this needed piece of legislation. It was dealt with in a responsible and constructive manner. Perhaps this is a lesson which we can draw on in the future.