Mr. Speaker, I would simply like to point out that, in the debate on Bill C-46, the Bloc Quebecois had made a certain number of proposals, in fall 2002, following the Enron and WorldCom scandals and also our own scandal with respect to doctoring the books at CINAR.
We had proposed tightening the Criminal Code. A number of the Bloc Quebecois' proposals are now in Bill C-46. We are very happy to see that, but, at the same time, we wanted to ask much broader questions. As I mentioned earlier in my question to the member from the NDP, it would be desirable in the follow up to Bill C-46 for a hard look to be taken at these issues, especially by the Standing Committee on Finance. I had already proposed that, but unfortunately, it still does not seem to top the list of priorities.
We had also hoped that there would have been a very serious look at the use of tax havens by Canadian companies. We know that Barbados, for instance, a country with which the former finance minister signed a tax agreement, has become the third most popular destination for Canadian direct investments.
We cannot say that, on the one hand, Canada will be very strict when it comes to financial practices and then, at the same time, legalize or tolerate jurisdictions that close their eyes to a number of these practices.
Earlier I mentioned that the OECD lawyer, Mark Pieth, had suggested that the OECD member states should consider this. I think that this Parliament should seriously consider this over the next few months.
The other aspect we must consider is the issue of responsible investing and measures benefiting investors and companies with responsible attitudes, not only in terms of their management practices, but also how they invest their funds.
To this end, even if we agree in principle, Bill C-46 is at most a first step toward proper regulations on administrative practices.
Bill C-46 contains a sticking point preventing the Bloc from voting in its favour. The extent of prosecution by crown prosecutors needs clarification.
During discussions on the bill, we were told that there will be prosecution protocols. Clearly, we will never vote for a bill that could be a Trojan horse for an idea the federal government has long promoted, in Ottawa and Toronto, that being the implementation of a Canada-wide securities commission.
We believe that this area comes under provincial jurisdiction, particularly in Quebec, and that our system is a good one. As proof, there have been no scandals, with the exception of CINAR, on the sort of scale seen in the United States, which does have a national securities commission.
We feel that our system has worked well. As a result, Bill C-46 must not be used to implement any secret agenda. Accordingly, we will withhold our judgment until third reading.
I wanted to speak because I thought it important to situate this debate on Bill C-46.