Mr. Speaker, if the member thought he was going to derail my train of thought, he has failed to do so. However I commend the member for standing and making notice of the Chair.
I want to move on to say that subclauses 447.7(1) and 447.7(2) respectively give the Minister of the Environment the discretion to determine whether a species of wildlife is an endangered or threatened species. Before making a designation of this nature, however, the Minister of the Environment must consult with the committee on the status of endangered wildlife in Canada. Again, this kind of provision is entirely in keeping with a regulatory scheme that has a broad public welfare goal, such as preserving wildlife, as is the case with the intent of my colleague.
In order to achieve that goal, it is necessary to have a flexible formula for determining species at risk. As I noted a little earlier, this scheme is moving away from the usual formula in the Criminal Code of a prohibited, morally reprehensible conduct that is sanctioned by a penalty.
Further, I would suggest that the maximum penalty for offences in relation to threatened or endangered species would be four and eight years respectively. These maximum terms are unknown in the Criminal Code. There is no precedent for this kind of maximum penalty. This is another example of the inconsistency of these provisions with other provisions in the Criminal Code when it comes to penalties.
In closing I would like to reiterate that there is a distinction between the objectives of legislation and the mechanics of the legislation itself to achieve an objective.
As I said earlier, the intent, as my colleague is trying to establish here, is to protect endangered species. It is a good intent but the way he is getting around it is not the most appropriate or efficient way, because it cannot be dealt with through the Criminal Code. The Criminal Code would not make it workable. Rather, it should be done, as it is now being done, through the regulatory process.
There is another important point that I wanted to bring to the attention of my colleagues. At the provincial level there are a number of mechanisms where provincial governments, through their regulatory processes as well as through legislation, can deal with some of those issues that exist within their jurisdictions.
I did not want to touch on the fact that we would be duplicating and infringing on provincial jurisdiction, but I will leave that for some of my colleagues who might be speaking to this issue later on.