Mr. Speaker, first of all, let me reassure my colleagues that I will not be taking the 40 minutes allotted to me, even though I could.
As a member of the industry committee, I am pleased to take part in this debate on Bill C-4, to implement the agreement among various countries concerning co-operation on the civil international space station, entered into on January 29, 1998.
The Bloc Quebecois is also in favour of this bill, but the government does not have much respect for us as parliamentarians, in having us vote on an agreement entered into nearly two years ago, right at the two year limit set for its ratification. I say right at the two year limit because the final date is January 29, 2000.
Since the House does not sit in January or over the holiday period unless there is an emergency and the bill has to go to the other House, we are really up against the deadline. Imagine, as parliamentarians, what would happen if it did not go through. The government has been spending money under this agreement for two years. It would be a fine mess.
This is a pretty strange way to finish up this millennium. It was precisely in order to avoid a repetition of such a thing that my colleague for Beauharnois—Salaberry recently introduced private member's Bill C-214. Its intent is to get parliament more involved in ratifying treaties.
In his speech before this House, the hon. member for Beauharnois—Salaberry indicated that the present Government of Canada, like the previous one, appears to be following a British tradition, one followed by member countries of the Commonwealth, one that is not a practice in most other democratic countries.
I will not repeat what my colleague has said, but I will point out that in the United States, surely the most advanced country as far as space is concerned, a two-thirds vote of the Senate is required for an agreement of this nature to be ratified by the president. We can see therefore we have a way to go in terms of democracy.
I have a question. Regardless of what the members opposite have to say, is Canada still dependent on the British system, since we retain many of the parliamentary rules and traditions of this system?
We are dealing with space, therefore electronics and very advanced science and technology. I have been in a number of parliaments on delegation visits. In most western countries that have parliaments, votes are taken electronically from the desks of the members. They insert a smart card, and the calculations are done automatically. They do this in the States, as in many other countries.
We are debating a bill and will soon have to vote on it, rising each in turn. It is perhaps a good thing that we all rise, but the calculations must still be done manually in the best country in the world, as the Prime Minister often says.
In the best country in the world, it takes time. So much time that an agreement, because there are so many bills to debate, has to be ratified at the last minute. This isn archaic way of managing a modern project.
What a poor way to encourage young people to become active in politics. The government would like all young people to be connected, through the schools and universities. The government encourages Canadians to get connected, but is unable to connect its own parliament.
Let us come back to this modern agreement on the civil international space station, concluded nearly two years ago and difficult to oppose, because it is already in operation.
This agreement contains 26 pages and is, in fact, part of the bill, whereas the bill itself has only six pages. So, as the bill is not very long, I trust members will allow me to read and comment on a few clauses—