Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today and speak to Bill S-36, a bill that amends the Export and Import of Rough Diamonds Act, which is the domestic enabling legislation for Canada's participation in an international certification and regulation process, known as the Kimberley process, which is designed to counter the trade and transportation of illicit rough diamonds that are used to finance armed conflicts in Africa. The previous speaker spoke of the murder, torture and strife that is carried out there and which the illicit rough diamond trade finances. These illicit diamonds are referred to appropriately as conflict diamonds.
The bill makes two technical changes to address shortcomings in the international process and Canada's participation in it. The bill gives the Minister of Natural Resources the authority to change the definition of “rough diamond” to enable exclusion of diamonds less than one millimetre in diameter from the scope of the Kimberley process. Countries in this international certification scheme have concluded that diamonds less than that size are of too little value for the illicit trade and of course would not be referred to as conflict diamonds and therefore placed an unnecessary administrative burden on the mining industry.
Bill S-36 also introduces a provision to enable the publication of Kimberley process certificate based export and import statistics. Currently Canada only publicizes official trade statistics established and published by Statistics Canada which are based on customs export and import declarations. This latter move is designed to facilitate the identification of irregular trade activity which is important when trying to counter, or look for ways to decrease, the illicit trade in rough diamonds. Bill S-36 comes into force on a day to be set by cabinet.
The Kimberley process was initiated by South Africa in May 2000. It includes 43 participants involved in diamond production and trade. The participating countries account for 99.8% of the global trade in rough diamonds. They are prohibited from trading in rough diamonds with non-participating countries and must implement laws and regulations against such trade in their respective countries. In addition, rough diamonds must be shipped in tamper-proof packaging and accompanied by a forgery resistant certificate.
Something comes to mind when considering that rough diamonds must be shipped in tamper-proof packaging and accompanied by a forgery resistant certificate. Would it not have been a wonderful idea if the money that was directed to the sponsorship campaign of the Liberal government some time ago had been sent out in tamper-proof packaging accompanied by a forgery resistant certificate.
Perhaps there would not have been the huge scandal and all the diversion of taxpayers' money into the coffers of the Liberals' campaign and the Liberals would not be facing an imminent trouncing at the polls in a very short time. Canadians would probably be sleeping a lot better too, knowing that several hundred million dollars had not been fleeced from some of the programs into Liberal coffers. I know my colleague from the Bloc probably agrees with me that if the money had gone in tamper-proof packages, it probably would have been better spent.
Getting back to Bill S-36, Canada has participated in this agreement since its inception in May 2000.
As a Canadian I am proud to say that in 2004 Canada ranked as the world's third largest producer of diamonds by value. That is amazing. I can remember not too many years ago no one really knew diamonds existed in this country. Those who did know about it considered that maybe it was too expensive to actually mine the diamonds. That has certainly changed over the last couple of decades.
The production is estimated at about 12.6 million carats, or approximately $2.1 billion. Diamond mining provides approximately 4,000 direct and indirect jobs in Canada, and they are well paying jobs. They are permanent jobs because there will be a very good resource harvest of diamonds for many decades to come.
The Export and Import of Rough Diamonds Act is under the authority of the Department of Natural Resources and serves as the legal foundation to implement the Kimberley process in Canada. As well, the Canada Border Services Agency assists Natural Resources Canada in verifying that imports of natural rough diamonds are accompanied by a Kimberley process certificate from the exporting country. This is very important when we are trying to discourage and counter the trafficking in illicit rough diamonds.
At the Kimberley process plenary meeting held in Gatineau, Quebec in October 2004, several modifications were brought forward to improve the effectiveness of the process. As a result, amendments are required to Canada's domestic legislation to ensure that Canada remains compliant with the international agreement.
The government is scheduled to undertake a full-scale review of the Export and Import of Rough Diamonds Act in 2006, which will be concurrent with a similar review of the Kimberley process in the same year. The amendment related to the diamond size will help remove an administrative burden to Canada's mining industry. It is possible that non-quantified economic benefits could accrue to Canada's diamond mining industry by this measure which could indirectly benefit federal revenues. That should be music to the ears of the Liberals in the House. The government does not appear to be over-inflating any expectations with respect to economic benefits.
As well, the publication of Kimberley process certificate based import and export statistics and the associated improvement on the monitoring of irregular trade activity would in a minor way help improve the Kimberley process's overall objective of addressing the negative impact that trade in conflict diamonds has had on the peace, security and sustainable development in affected countries.
Consultations on the proposed amendments were carried out with provincial and territorial governments through the Canadian Intergovernmental Working Group on the Mineral Industry, Canadian diamond industry stakeholders and NGOs participating in the Kimberley process certification scheme. All stakeholders support the proposed amendments to the act. No major adverse consequences of proceeding with the amendments were identified.
It is true that all Canadians have a direct interest in a more peaceful and stable world. As such we need to support international efforts to end the financing of armed conflicts by trade in illicit diamonds. Canada must continue to play, and increase the role it plays, in countering the trade in illicit diamonds.
As well, we need to ensure that government agencies and bodies designed to enforce the aspects of these international efforts, such as the Canada Border Services Agency, are properly resourced in both manpower and equipment. We know that the Liberal government has cut back the resources and the manpower to the Canada Border Services Agency to a point where it is starving for more resources and manpower in order to do its job more effectively.
We have heard the leader of the Conservative Party and many of my colleagues in the House recognize time after time the importance of the Canada Border Services Agency and commit that a Conservative government will provide all the necessary resources and manpower so that it can be as effective and more effective than any other border agency in the world. That is the commitment of the Conservative Party in a Conservative government after the next election.
In total value, Canada is the world's third largest diamond producer. Any measure which fortifies the legitimate trade in diamonds and reduces regulatory and administrative burdens on our diamond industry is good for jobs in Canada and good for the future of Canada.
The Conservative Party will be supporting the bill. We will ensure that the Canada Border Services Agency will have the adequate manpower and resources to carry out the responsibility we have by being part of the international organization that oversees the export and import of rough diamonds. We will ensure that the resources and the manpower are provided to keep Canada as a leader in fighting the illicit diamond trade, the profits of which support so much strife and terrible conditions, for example, in countries in Africa.
We will be supporting the bill. After the next election we will look forward to a Conservative government pushing as hard as it can to ensure that the Kimberley process act is as effective as all the participating countries need it to be.