Madam Speaker, I listened very attentively to my hon. colleague's speech. He certainly raises a great deal of concern that I am hearing expressed all across the land, particularly in rural ridings.
As he says, the industries involved in guiding and outfitting are important to the welfare of especially northern Canada and other parts of Canada such as Quebec and Labrador. It is a huge business. He also mentions farming and ranching and the impact the legislation could potentially have on the rodeo circuit, that whole industry and the people employed in it. I could not agree more. There is a great deal of concern.
I am reminded of other omnibus bills such as Bill C-68. At that time the opposition warned that once again the government was lumping a whole bunch of things, some good and some not very good, into one omnibus bill.
The firearms act and the registration of long guns ironically impacted on some of the same businesses. It has a very negative impact in many respects on guiding and outfitting. We have heard that all sorts of problems have arisen, especially with foreign hunters that are a big part of the business being allowed to come into Canada with their firearms and still being able to abide by the new restrictions inherent in Bill C-68.
As far as the impact on farming is concerned, we still get correspondence from farmers because of the restrictions placed on them. How unworkable and irresponsible some of those regulations are when it comes to the way in which they can protect their herds, for example. They have always been able to protect their livestock by responsibly using firearms.
In my short political lifetime of eight years we have already had evidence of the folly of omnibus bills. Surely the government must recognize that in particular with Bill C-68 and all the problems that were created because of forcing it through without thinking things through.
Would my hon. colleague have any other examples in his memory either at the provincial or federal level where governments, over the very justifiable concerns being expressed by opposition, rammed through legislation in an omnibus fashion?
As he says, and I agree, there are some inherently good things in this bill. Probably the majority of it would be viewed as a good, positive step. Certainly some things have not been properly thought through and the impact will be tremendous on some industries.
Does he have any examples of other omnibus bills in the past that were poorly thought through as well?