Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his excellent speech on Bill S-12. I know he has been seized with this matter for as long as I have, perhaps even longer, as we both serve on the scrutiny of regulations committee together.
For the people watching, this might seem like really dry stuff. I am not criticizing the member's speech. Mine will be given shortly, and it will not be any more exciting. As I look around this place, the galleries are not exactly packed.
However, there is something really important at stake here in Bill S-12. It is fundamentally about asking Canadians to comply with laws and regulations, and in doing so making sure they actually know what we are asking them to comply with.
The way it would be possible to make regulations under Bill S-12, Canadians would no longer have certainty in being able to know what the laws, and particularly the regulations, are. That, to me, is a fundamental concern.
How can Canadians potentially be held criminally responsible for not obeying a regulation when they had no way of knowing either that a regulation had been changed or where they could access that regulation, when it will be possible under the bill to incorporate by reference?
I would ask the member to spend a bit more time speaking about that, perhaps in plain English. Why should the bill be of concern not only to my colleagues here, who are flooding into the House now, but also to all Canadians who are watching this riveting debate here this afternoon?