Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to begin the second reading debate on Bill S-41, an act to re-enact legislative instruments enacted in only one official language.
The bill is necessary to resolve any uncertainty with respect to the constitutional validity of certain instruments of a legislative nature such as regulations and orders in council that are still in force today but, at another time, may have escaped bilingual enactment and promulgation.
From time to time doubts have been raised about the constitutional validity of some regulations. The bill would dispel any such doubts and ensure compliance with the language guarantees of the constitution. Perhaps just as significantly the bill would demonstrate and strengthen respect for the equality of status of both official languages in all federal legislation.
Parliament has a duty, both legal and constitutional, to ensure compliance with the language provisions, which were written into our constitution in 1867, and later supplemented by the official languages acts of 1969 and of 1988, as well as enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms of 1982.
In its third report tabled in parliament on October 30, 1996, the Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations expressed the view that some federal regulations made in the past by the governor in council were unconstitutional and of no force and effect because they had been made only in one official language.
The bill would correct any potential constitutional defect arising from regulations and orders in council made only in one official language but published in the Canada Gazette in French and English. Such legislative instruments would be automatically and retroactively re-enacted in both languages.
In effect the bill would replace by general reference, without amendment, all regulations and other instruments of a legislative nature for which English and French versions have been published in the Canada Gazette by giving the published versions legal authority and retroactive effect.
This legislative technique does not require that reference be made to each instrument or that each by physically re-made by the regulatory authority. It is an efficient, cost effective and legally appropriate solution to the situation identified by the Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations.
The bill would be given retroactive effect pursuant to the widely recognized powers of parliament . This is required to ensure that everything done in the past in reliance upon federal legislative instruments is validated. This is only right. Persons who have had notice of the existence of the legislative instruments at issue and have consequently arranged their affairs should be confident in the legal validity of their actions.
The bill makes provision for the possibility that some legislative instruments may also have been made in one official language only and published in that language only or not published at all. The governor in council would be given authority to re-enact such instruments and to give them retroactive effect.
I wish to reassure the House that the bill is required only for greater certainty. The government is confident its legislative instruments are valid. The validity of a proclamation published in English and French but made in English only in 1921 was challenged in the lower courts several years ago. There are currently no court cases in which the validity of such instruments is challenged. However, the risk that such arguments could be raised does exist and the government has the duty to address it.
I commend the bill to the House for consideration and passage. The bill is about respect for the equality of status of English and French. The bill would provide for greater certainty and ensure that all acts of parliament and government regulations respect the constitutional language requirements. The bill would ensure the continued application of the rule of law.