Mr. Speaker, I am really pleased that the hon. member for Bonaventure—Gaspé—Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Pabok recognizes the elegance of DFO press releases. I am sure those in the DFO headquarters communications branch will be putting that one on the wall because it is something we have not heard that often.
With regard to the remarks just made, we on the government side appreciate the efforts made by the member opposite in terms of trying to debate and discuss and get the best bill forward we can. I clarify that we did listen intently to the discussions held at committee in terms of the concerns coming forward by the Bloc Quebecois on wording. We had it checked out by legal and linguistic experts and it was found that better wording and better clarity rests with the wording we have currently in the bill. We certainly thank the members opposite for their interest and the points they raised in that regard.
Group No. 3 motions, Motions Nos. 4 and 7, propose amendments to Bill C-27 that would require that regulations made pursuant to the bill be reviewed and approved by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans. I believe Motion No. 4 is consequential to Motion No. 7.
Bill C-27 does amend the Coastal Fisheries Protection Act and the Canada Shipping Act. Its passage is required for Canada to be able to ratify the UN fisheries agreement which we need to protect straddling and highly migratory fish stocks. Existing legislation is for the most part sufficient to allow Canada to implement the UN agreement. There are, however, some gaps.
Bill C-27 is intended to allow Canada to assert the rights and meet the obligations set out in the agreement. Various speakers talked about some of those rights and obligations earlier and I specifically indicated that it does create guiding principles of conservation and management, that it creates an enforcement regime, that we all have to respect and give some authority to our fisheries officers, and creates compulsory binding mechanisms for the settlement of disputes. They are all very important.
The government has worked hard to ensure the bill is fully consistent with the agreement. Once the bill is passed and subordinate regulations are made, Canada will be in a position to ratify the United Nations fisheries agreement.
In general the purpose of regulations is to set out the details, the nuts and bolts, of a legislative regime. This is the intent of the proposed regulation making power found in Bill C-27. This regulation making power allows for the making of regulations that would set out such details as the fishing rules adopted by regional fisheries organizations such as NAFO that vessels of states party to UNFA or to the other treaties implemented pursuant to Bill C-27 must comply with, in the areas of the high seas where these rules apply, and the circumstances and procedures that must be followed to enforce these rules, a very important point.
To have such regulations approved by parliament would be both impractical and inefficient. The member for St. John's West made that very point, that we need to act with haste in terms of people violating these agreements. The fishing rules adopted by regional fisheries organizations are amended every year. These rules provide for such details as the amount of fish that can be caught, where the fish can or cannot be caught, the size of the fish that can be caught, bycatch restrictions, gear restrictions and so on.
Many of these rules are valid for only one year and must be put in regulations quickly so as to be applicable in as short a time as one month.
There is already the Standing Joint Committee on the Scrutiny of Regulations which has the express role of reviewing government regulations.
I submit the House should not usurp the role of that committee. Having the House review and approve regulations made pursuant to Bill C-27 would be inefficient, impractical and not in the best interests of Canadians in terms of acting quickly.
For those reasons the government cannot accept these two amendments and I urge the House to reject them. Furthermore, I call on all members to continue to give their support to Bill C-27, which will clear the way for the implementation of this valuable and necessary international agreement.
If we are serious about conservation, and I know all members are, we need to ratify UNFA and get on with the task of rebuilding what is left of our straddling and highly migratory fish stocks before it is too late. As I said earlier today, we are making progress in the House. We made progress a couple of weeks ago at the FAO in Rome and Canada can continue to provide leadership in that regard. With the support of hon. members on this bill it will move us a huge step forward.