Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak to Reform Motion No. 327. The motion, as has been stated, already calls for the government to withdraw all funding for the federal Court Challenges Program, the program presently administered out of Winnipeg.
It was mentioned by the member proposing the motion that the money currently available is $2.5 million. As described by my colleague in the New Democratic Party, this is really a modest sum when one looks at the overall money spent in the present court system relative to what the government spends on a single case. For example, the Airbus case would probably double that total budget.
The federal Court Challenges Program was established in 1968, as indicated by the Department of the Secretary of State, to fund challenges to federal and provincial language rights protected under the Constitution of 1867. The overall objective clearly was to clarify rights and freedoms as protected by the charter.
In 1982 the program was expanded to include language rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In 1985 the administration of the program was vested in the Canadian Council on Societal Development.
In 1990 it was moved to the human rights research and education centre at the University of Ottawa. In 1992 admittedly the Progressive Conservative government cancelled the Court Challenges Program based on the need at that time to cut spending and the deficit. It was subsequently reinstated, as has been indicated in the Chamber, by the Liberal government in 1994.
However there is an historical fact that needs to be on the record, and that is that the Campbell government was prepared and had a platform that called for a reinstatement of a program similar to one that was in place. I will speak to that later in my remarks. Were it not for a slight electoral shift that occurred in 1993, which some might call an earthquake or even the earth opening up and swallowing us whole, the program would have been in place in a somewhat revised form.
Since then and what we have now is a fiscal situation where the deficit has been harnessed much through the work of previous administrations and those policies that were carried on by the current government. This brings into question the basis of the motion questioning the funding and the motivation behind the particular program.
Parliamentarians have to stop and question the legitimacy and the necessity of a program such as this one. The federal Court Challenges Program has been of real benefit in several important legal decisions in the country. The program allows Canadians to clarify the Canadian charter rights that exist. However it was not intended to give a perpetual fund for lobby groups, particularly lobby groups that may have some spurious intent. The suggestion that we should cancel the program outright is the usual solution we sometimes hear in the Chamber where we throw the baby out with the bath water.
The suggestion I will be putting forward is that the program is necessary, but there are perhaps some improvements that could be made. There has been mention of the fact that the program is susceptible to manipulation and perhaps abuse if that money is made too readily available. This can be addressed by having assurances in place that a strict criterion must be met, a criterion with respect to the cause and the need. That currently exists. As in all situations involving boards and administrators, what we have to see is a more diligent approach and perhaps a more proactive effort made to ensure that the criterion is met.
Obviously what the country does not need and what our legal system does not need is more spurious challenges to the court. We have seen in recent years Canada becoming an overlitigious society. We see the courts called upon daily to rule upon issues that seem to me, and I am sure to some Canadians, to be issues of common sense that could be applied and settled far from the chambers of the courts.
That being said, the Progressive Conservative Party and I believe there is legitimate need for a program such as this one. The government should remain committed to equality rights for all Canadians and should therefore continue to support a program that will flesh out or allow a forum for individuals who feel oppressed to access resources they might need to pursue those rights in the courts. I think there can be no other or no more important purpose for a fund such as this one.
Thousands of charter rulings in the courts have been handed down in recent years. These decisions are critical to the operation of our justice system and to the operation of Canadian society generally. Morals are sometimes shaped there. Ideological ideas are given a forum for discussion. Legal issues are explored in a more detailed fashion.
We have become a more rights oriented society as a result of the charter. However the charter of rights and freedoms has also become an agent of change in this country. Pursuing cases through the courts is a critical and crucial part of this avenue for change.
The court process of course can be very long and arduous. It is a process that at times is beyond the reach and beyond the economic capacity of some individuals who wish to challenge rights or infringements of their rights.
Calling for a blanket removal of this fund I suggest is not the answer. It was for these very reasons that the original program was put in place, to establish test cases which deal with certain provisions of the charter. It does not mean that this program should be abused or that charter rights should be brought forward at every turn of the road.
A further suggestion one might make with respect to the improvement of the federal Court Challenges Program would be that one could perhaps look at reducing or in some ways adding to the funding by the invitation of other groups in the community being permitted to contribute to the fund itself.
I would suggest that provincial bar societies might be canvassed. Other civil rights groups that feel strongly that this fund should remain in place should be invited to contribute. I suggest that this would in fact enhance the present program. It would also recognize the importance of ensuring that this mechanism which is available for bringing forward significant test cases to clarify the charter law would continue.
The Conservative Party of Canada has always embraced this concept. We would put forward the suggestion that we could improve and build upon the present program. That is not to say there should be more money necessarily poured into it by government, but it should be open perhaps to other sources for funding. Adapting the present program is a suggestion we put forward.
The new charter law program might also differ from the actual federal Court Challenges Program in that it would be used to test federal laws not only under equality of language provisions of the charter, but also under fundamental freedoms provisions such as those of freedom of speech, conscience, religion and others.
There does not have to be a trend toward either a left wing or a right wing movement or challenges in the court. It should certainly be open. Again I refer back to the necessity of criteria.
Tightening the requirements and the criteria would be the way to combat some of the suggestions put forward by the mover of the motion that have led to the abuses.
Another way or a new way of administering the program would also have the double advantage of reducing federal funds without killing this existing program. The purpose here is not to encourage lengthy and costly court cases, but to build upon the charter law and the usefulness this program provides.
Before approving any funding for a court case, the program would have to satisfy the issue of it being a new and significant issue and one of national significance.
This brings me to the closing point I would like to make. Unfortunately there is an emergence in Canada where courts are being called upon ever more to delve into the area of policy. It is extremely important that the parliamentary process and the sanctity of parliament in making and passing laws be enhanced and always be buttressed by those who arrive in this chamber.
In closing I would just say that the courts should be satisfied that they are not the exclusive defenders of the charter. For the reasons I have set out, we cannot support this motion.