Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague, the hon. member for Burnaby—New Westminster, for his very passionate speech today on this important topic.
Could the member explain or perhaps speculate as to why the Conservatives would reject the need for an independent regulator?
I have a done a little research, and the British in 1992 created the Offshore Safety Act after the 1972 report of Mr. Cullen. In that act, one of the key aspects was an independent regulator. I then looked at Norway and found that the Norwegians have created what they call the Norwegian petroleum safety authority, another independent regulatory body. Last, our fellow federation commonwealth member, Australia, created what is called the national offshore petroleum safety authority.
All three of these countries have seen it absolutely essential to create such an independent regulatory body. Why is it that the current government, also in a federation like the Australians, could not see fit to create such a key element of this reform initiative?