House of Commons Hansard #158 of the 38th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was farm.
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Nepean—Carleton, ON
Mr. Speaker, my point of order is a quick administrative error. Yesterday I referred to Charles Bird as the vice-president of CTV News. In fact, he is the vice-president of Bell Globemedia, which is the parent company of CTV and the Globe and Mail .
I thank Paul Sparkes, the vice-president of corporate affairs at that company, for raising that administrative error with me.
Charlie Penson Conservative Peace River, AB
Mr. Speaker, on the point of order I raised earlier, I did not determine a response from the member, whether the government has a position or it has not.
Points of OrderRoutine Proceedings
The Acting Speaker (Mr. Marcel Proulx)
My understanding is the answer was that it would be answered within due course. My comment was that to my knowledge Monday is a sitting day and so is Tuesday for all we know.
The House resumed consideration of the motion in relation to the amendments made by the Senate to Bill C-37, An Act to amend the Telecommunications Act
Telecommunications ActGovernment Orders
The Acting Speaker (Mr. Marcel Proulx)
Is the House ready for the question?
Telecommunications ActGovernment Orders
The Acting Speaker (Mr. Marcel Proulx)
The question is on the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?
Telecommunications ActGovernment Orders
An hon. member
On division.
(Motion agreed to, amendments read the second time and concurred in)
The House proceeded to the consideration of Bill S-36, An Act to amend the Export and Import of Rough Diamonds Act, as reported (without amendment) from the committee.
Irwin Cotler Liberalfor the Minister of Natural Resources
moved that Bill S-36, An Act to amend the Export and Import of Rough Diamonds Act, be concurred in.
Export and Import of Rough Diamonds ActGovernment Orders
The Acting Speaker (Mr. Marcel Proulx)
Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?
Export and Import of Rough Diamonds ActGovernment Orders
Some hon. members
Agreed.
(Motion agreed to)
Export and Import of Rough Diamonds ActGovernment Orders
The Acting Speaker (Mr. Marcel Proulx)
When shall the bill be read a third time? By leave, now?
Irwin Cotler Liberalfor the Minister of Natural Resources
moved that the bill be read a third time and passed.
Larry Bagnell LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources
Mr. Speaker, I want to start by thanking all parties for the support they have provided for this bill. There are some minor administrative amendments that would allow the diamond industry, which is so important to Canada, to keep functioning.
Bill S-36 is designed to amend the Export and Import of Rough Diamonds Act. The act provides controls for the export and import or transit across Canada of rough diamonds and enables the implementation in Canada of the International Kimberley process certification scheme for the trade in rough diamonds.
Before discussing the bill itself, I will give a brief overview of the steps that have been taken by Canada in the international community in connection with the rough diamond trade.
The international community is still greatly concerned about the link between the illegal rough diamond trade and the financing of armed conflicts, particularly as occurred in Angola, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
While conflict diamonds constitute a very small percentage of international diamond trade, they have a devastating impact on peace, security and sustainable development in the affected countries. With leadership from Canada, the United Nations has taken several initiatives to address this problem. As far back as 1998, the Security Council imposed sanctions prohibiting the import of rough diamonds from Angola that were not controlled through an official certificate of the original scheme.
During its term on the UN Security Council in 1999 and 2000, Canada played a key role, as chair of the Angola sanctions committee, in pressing for measures to strengthen implementation of these sanctions. These measures laid the foundation for the adoption of additional sanctions on Sierra Leone, which placed similar restrictions on rough diamond imports from that country.
In December 2000 and again in March 2002 the United Nations General Assembly passed resolutions, of which Canada was one of the sponsors, calling for the creation of an international rough diamond certification program to tighten up measures to control the rough diamond trade and prevent illicit diamonds from getting into legitimate markets.
At the June 2002 Kananaskis summit in Canada, under the G-8 plan for Africa, G-8 leaders reiterated their support for the international efforts made to identify the link that exists between the development of natural resources and conflicts in Africa, including the monitoring measures developed under the Kimberley Process.
The Kimberley Process was initiated in May 2000 by several south African countries. In addition to responding to the international pressure to address peace and security concerns, the process protects the national economies of several south Africans countries, including Namibia, Botswana and South Africa, that are highly dependent on the diamond industry.
Over the course of nine plenary sessions and two ministerial meetings, the process developed detailed proposals for an international certification scheme for rough diamonds.
In March 2002 Canada hosted a meeting of the Kimberley Process that achieved consensus on the proposals in the scheme. The scheme was seen as taking the form of an international political understanding rather than a legally binding international agreement.
At the meeting held in Switzerland in early November 2002, participating countries made a commitment to simultaneously implement the scheme at national levels on January 1, 2003.
In order for Canada to follow through on this commitment and implement the Kimberley Process certification scheme on a solid legal foundation, the Government of Canada established the Export and Import of Rough Diamonds Act. The act came into force January 1, 2003, under the authority of the natural resources minister.
Canada's Export and Import of Rough Diamonds Act provides the authority to verify that natural rough diamonds exported from Canada are non-conflict. It also gives the authority to verify that every shipment of natural rough diamonds entering Canada is accompanied by a Kimberley Process certificate from the exporting country, again certifying that diamonds have a non-conflict source.
There are also trade restrictions whereby trading rough diamonds from non-participating countries are prohibited.
I might just stop to answer a specific concern with respect to persons only having a certificate by weight. People could mix valid diamonds with low quality blood diamonds so that system would not work. However certificates in Canada also have the value and carats of the diamond. It would be very hard to replace one shipment with the other because it has to add up to the same weight and value. There are also a number of other certificates in the process so that items can be matched.
The importance of these amendments is so we can publish our statistics and compare them with other countries and our imports will match with their exports.
The Kimberley process remains today as the principal international initiative established to develop practical approaches to the conflict diamond challenge. The process now includes 45 participants, including the European Union, involved in producing, processing and marketing of rough diamonds. The participants account for 99.8% of the global trade in and the production of rough diamonds. They include all of Canada's major diamond trading partners.
The implementation of the Kimberley process has demonstrated significant benefits in curbing illicit trade in rough diamonds. For example, Sierra Leon's certified exports in 2004 were valued at $155 million versus $10 million in 2000.
Although Canada's status as an important diamond producing country is recent, this industry currently provides an estimated 4,000 direct and indirect Canadian jobs. Mine production in 2004 is estimated to be valued at $2.1 billion Canadian, ranking Canada as the world's third most important producer of diamonds by value.
This only marks the start of Canada's diamond history. More mines are scheduled to come into production in the coming years. These include the Jericho mine in Nunavut in 2006; the Snap Lake mine in the Northwest Territories in 2007; and the Victor mine in Ontario in 2008. These and other advanced exploration projects located in the same areas, and also in Quebec and Saskatchewan, will ensure prosperous times to come for the economy of many regions. These include aboriginal communities as well as major Canadian cities as hubs for the financial markets, equipping and manufacturing companies and allied industries.
Coming from a northern riding I am very delighted that many of the jobs in the diamond mines at the moment are provided to northerners and to aboriginal peoples of the north.
In addition to diamond mining, a small diamond cutting and polishing industry has grown in Yellowknife, Vancouver, Toronto and in Montreal and Matane, Quebec.These operations have important training components which include a number of aboriginal apprentices.
Because the Kimberley process is in its early phase of operation, shortcomings which impede its effectiveness were noted and addressed at the Kimberley process plenary meeting in Gatineau, Quebec from October 27 to October 29. I attended those meetings and it was wonderful for Canada to be hosting such an important initiative.
For Canada to be compliant with the Kimberley process as per the modifications brought forward at the plenary meeting, the following amendments to the act are required: introduce a provision to enable the publication of the Canadian Kimberley process certificate, based import and export statistics collected through the Kimberley process certification scheme; and change the definition of the term “rough diamond” as defined in the act to provide ministerial powers to exclude classes of diamonds prescribed by regulation from the scope of the Kimberley process certification scheme.
With regard to the first amendment, under the Kimberley process scheme participants are required to submit trade data in order to facilitate the identification of irregular trade activity. This is a foundation of the certification scheme. Most participants submit trade data based on Kimberley process certificates. However Canada is currently one of only a handful of participants who do not submit Kimberley process certification based trade data as it does not have the authority to do so. Canada submits the official trade statistics published by Statistics Canada, which, because of definitions, differ from Kimberley process certificates.
Statistics Canada's rough diamond trade statistics are customs based and measure rough diamonds imported and exported from Canada as a result of a financial transaction. On the other hand, Kimberley process trade statistics, derived from information on Kimberley process certificates, measure the flow or movement of all rough diamonds entering and leaving the country.
For example, exploration samples, technical valuations or rough diamonds that are shipped for events such as trade shows are not included in Statistics Canada's trade volume data because the rough diamonds have not been sold to anyone, that is, no financial transactions have taken place. However they are included in the Kimberley process certification based trade data since all rough diamonds entering or leaving the country must be accompanied by a Kimberley process certificate.
At the Kimberley process plenary meeting in October 2004, participants recognized that the statistics derived from different sources are hindering the comparability and analysis of the trade data and, consequently, the effectiveness of the Kimberley process certification scheme. For this reason, Partnership Africa Canada has been quite vocal in having Canada amend its act to enable the publication of Kimberley process certification based trade data.
Further, as Canada chairs the Kimberley process working group on statistics, it is important that we lead by example. NRCan has confirmed with Statistics Canada that the latter does not have any problems with the Kimberley process certification based trade statistics being published in addition to its trade data as long as they are appropriately sourced, which they will be.
The second amendment, to change the definition of the term “rough diamond” as defined in the act, and to provide ministerial powers to prescribe the classes of diamonds to be excluded from the definition of “rough diamond”, is required to comply with a change adopted by the Kimberley process plenary meeting, which limits the applicability of the Kimberley process certification scheme to diamonds equal to or larger than one millimetre in dimension. This decision was made to remove unnecessary administrative burden on the Kimberley process certification scheme as the smaller diamonds are of too little value for illicit trade.
As concerns the exclusion of the smaller rough diamonds from application to the Kimberley process, we propose to set the sizing criteria through a regulation.
Some concerns have been expressed about addressing this issue through regulation rather than in the legislation itself. There are four important reasons why this should not be an issue.
First, changes to the Kimberley process certification scheme are adopted by all Kimberley process participants on a consensual basis. Canada has no discretion on whether to implement these changes if it is to remain a participant in the process and not to disrupt Canadian trade in rough diamonds. Therefore any regulation will have to conform to the requirements of the international process.
Second, dealing with the Kimberley process guideline through a regulation provides additional checks and balances as the regulation development process requires public consultation, as well as a review by the Standing Joint Committee for Scrutiny of Regulations which reviews and scrutinizes regulations on the basis of legality and procedural aspects.
Consultations will take place with all stakeholders, including producers, importers and civil society, to ensure that the regulation is practical to implement and that, at the same time, it meets the intent of the Kimberley process guideline.
Third, the regulation is technical in nature and will require input from the industry to ensure the wording of the regulation meets the intent of the Kimberley process but at the same time is practical to implement and enforce.
The diamond industry uses sieves to separate its diamonds into different size fractions, and we understand that the sieves currently in commercial use do not result in 100% separation between diamonds one millimetre or longer and those less than one millimetre. Therefore the wording of the regulation must address this issue.
Finally, should the Kimberley process decide to alter the technical guideline related to the size for any reason, Canada would be in a good position to comply without going through a legislative process.
Because the bill is technical in nature, it was first introduced in the Senate on May 19, 2005. It was eventually referred to the Senate Standing Committee on Energy, the Environment, and Natural Resources and passed by the Senate without amendments on June 20, 2005.
Both the mining industry and the diamond cutting and polishing industry are dependent on access to export markets and this access depends on Canada's participation in the Kimberley process.
I am looking for support for this bill in order to signal to Canadian stakeholders and to the international community that Canada is moving ahead to comply with the evolving requirements of the Kimberley process certification scheme.
A mandatory review of the Kimberley process certification scheme will be held next year and led by foreign affairs. Meetings will be held the following year where it will be looked at again. In 2007 the plenary would approve it and it would get back to Parliament in 2008. Any other improvements that come out of that whole process and our experience over the years will be added at that time.
However these two amendments are critical to getting it right so we are not out of compliance with other countries. They would protect Canada's important diamond industry.
The only other point that has come up in debate related to whether the elements of the certificate were concrete enough. The Kimberley process is not the only way diamonds are monitored in Canada. Criteria such as value and weight are also involved. Various other documents accompany diamond transactions in Canada. As a result of what is already in place, it is hard to exchange illegal or blood diamonds for other diamonds.
I would like to commend opposition and government members for taking part in this debate. A number of members have added some very important background information with respect to the terrible tortures, amputations and murders that have occurred because of blood diamonds. All parties have supported this legislation in order to get it through quickly so Canada can remain a leader in ensuring we have a valid and successful diamond industry which is important to our economy, some of which is in the big cities but most of it in the north, and the economy of our aboriginal peoples.
Dick Harris Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
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.
Odina Desrochers Bloc Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC
Mr. Speaker, I too am pleased to speak today on Bill S-36, in which I have a special interest. In fact, I had the opportunity, during various parliamentary missions, to visit countries and meet people living in countries affected by war. Often “war” means “money” and “buying weapons”, which was unfortunately the case in some African countries.
If I may, I want to come back to Bill S-36, which makes essentially administrative amendments to the Export and Import of Rough Diamonds Act. Essentially, this bill will have two effects. First, it will authorize the government to compile and distribute data on international trade in diamonds. The adoption of this amendment, which would make the diamond trade more transparent and easier to control, is necessary for Canada to remain in compliance with its international obligations pursuant to the Kimberley process. Second, it will exclude very small diamonds from the Kimberley process requirements.
In number and in weight, the great majority of the diamonds dealt on the market are tiny. They are not used to make jewellery, but have more of a utilitarian function. They are to be found, for example, in turntable needles, in watchmaking and in certain industrial knives.
Unlike large diamonds whose scarcity makes their price exorbitant, these diamonds are of no great value, and the administrative burden associated with the Kimberley process can be prohibitive. I might mention that Canada recently became the world's third largest diamond producer. In Quebec, even though no diamond mine is yet active, seven mining companies hold licences on such mines, basically in Abitibi, Témiscamingue and the Northwest.
Deposits of kimberlite, the ore in which diamonds are found, have been discovered in five sub-regions of Quebec. As far as the Kimberley process and conflict diamonds are concerned, I will read an excerpt from Partnership Africa Canada:
In 2000, the international diamond industry produced more than 120 million carats of rough diamonds with a market value of $7.5 billion U.S. At the end of the diamond chain this bounty was converted into 70 million pieces of jewellery worth close to $58 billion U.S.
Of total world production, rebel armies in Sierra Leone, as well as in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), are estimated by De Beers to traffic in about 4 per cent. Other estimates place the number higher.
The Export and Import of Rough Diamonds Act ensures that Canada is in compliance with the Kimberley process, an international agreement which has established a process for certifying the origin of rough diamonds. The Kimberley process is basically designed to limit the trade in conflict diamonds, which are sold by armed factions to finance their wars.
At the beginning of my speech I mentioned these countries that have gone through harrowing wars, and that often have a high poverty rate.
Because they are small and highly valuable, the diamonds are easy to market and can be very profitable.
Now I will provide some statistics on wars funded by diamond trafficking. In the 1990s, this trade was a veritable scourge, and a major component in the funding of wars that displaced about 10 million people in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
When this issue first came up, only NGOs were critical of this funding. In 2000, the UN broke the story and published a report on the funding of the war in Angola, confirming everything that the NGOs had been proclaiming for years: the diamond trade was being used to finance the war.
These two events, that is publication of the UN report and of other information on the war in Sierra Leone, demonstrated that African conflicts and their connection with the diamond trade had now, unfortunately, become common knowledge.
That is when countries and companies that produce diamonds began to be concerned. Obviously, when this became common knowledge, everyone started wanting to solve the problem. But it was already too late. The moment that diamonds become synonymous with war, rape and murder and not with dreams and wealth, they lose their core value.
Responding to the invitation of two NGO groups, 37 countries and the principal diamond merchants agreed to sit down together with the NGOs to find a solution to the problem.
Continuing with the historical background, the first meeting was held in May 2002 in the city of Kimberley, South Africa: hence the name the Kimberley process. At the end of a series of meetings, they agreed that the best way to civilize the diamond trade was to put in place a system for certifying the origin of diamonds. Under this system, all diamonds exported from a country participating in the Kimberley process must be placed in a sealed container and accompanied by a government-issued certificate of authenticity called a Kimberley certificate.
There is plenty I could say about Bill S-36. I will, however, raise a few of its minor weaknesses before closing. First of all, the bill ought to have been evaluated, and this was not done with the first version. Now we are coming to amend the bill but it has not yet had a concrete evaluation in this Parliament.
The law will have been in effect for three years this coming January. The government wanted a prompt evaluation of its application and any shortcomings, but that was not done.
In conclusion, I would just like to add that the principle of Bill S-36 is a highly important one and that the Bloc Québécois will continue to follow developments in this sensitive situation with interest.
Export and Import of Rough Diamonds ActGovernment Orders
The Acting Speaker (Mr. Marcel Proulx)
Is the House ready for the question?
Export and Import of Rough Diamonds ActGovernment Orders
The Acting Speaker (Mr. Marcel Proulx)
The question is on the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?
Export and Import of Rough Diamonds ActGovernment Orders
The Acting Speaker (Mr. Marcel Proulx)
In my opinion the yeas have it. I declare the motion carried.
(Motion agreed to, bill read the third time and passed)