Mr. Speaker, the member made an excellent speech. She gave a great outline of the history of the Kimberley process. I would certainly like to thank the Bloc Québécois for its support for the Kimberley process and Bill S-36. I would like to help allay several fears the member has and explain why we proceeded in the way we did relating to some of her concerns.
She mentioned that she was hoping that the two elements which she outlined very nicely, to get rid of the small diamonds that do not cost very much and to publicize our stats, would not deter from the intent of the bill. I can certainly assure her that these will strengthen the way the bill enforces it because by publishing the statistics and making them transparent we will make sure there are no illegalities being done through Canada. In relation to eliminating the tiny diamonds that are measured in a few dollars or even cents, because people will not be working on the tiny ones that are not being used by dictators to fund wars, we will have time to put more resources and care into the really important ones.
The member made some very good suggestions for amendments. They make eminent sense on the surface to me. The question is why we are not bringing in some of the ideas now and in fact why we are bringing in a bill now when there is going to be a review in 2006. The items we are bringing in now, as I explained, are basically administrative. We want to get them in quickly because they are two items where we are not in compliance with the other countries. If we were not in compliance over the next couple of years while the review is going on, it could cause us to lose our diamond trade, which is a huge $2 billion industry in Canada providing 4,000 jobs. We cannot afford to lose that. It is not that there are not other things, like the member mentioned, that could be done, but we want to establish these bare minimum steps right away so we do not jeopardize our business.
People might ask why not wait then. It is true that there is the review in 2006 by the government and the Kimberley process meetings. They tentatively would be approved in 2007 by the plenary of the Kimberley process and maybe brought into law in Canada in 2008. That is why we want to get these basic needs items in quickly where we are out of whack with other countries. We need to finish with the administrative processes and then debate the good ideas during the mandated review.
Finally, I agree totally with the member's point that we need to continue to provide as much aid as possible. We have provided some consultative aid in enforcement to countries that cannot afford it. I certainly agree with the member that anything we can do to help those countries that do not have the resources or the political will to donate the resources for compliance in their countries will make the scheme foolproof. It has already done great work and hopefully these amendments will ensure that Canada remains part of it. Hopefully, we can do what the member says and support countries so they all have the resources to monitor carefully.