Madam Speaker, it is always interesting to hear the Liberals get excited and give us some recognition.
As I pointed out a number of months ago, I used to have a red combine. It was the colour of the Liberal Party and it always seemed to give me grief. That seems to be the way the Liberal government is going with its bills. It seems as if its red combine has run out of cash and it has found another bill to get some extra cash. The combine might be beyond repair so I do not know how the cash will do it by itself. The Liberals do not have much to trade off. I do not think the money raised through the bill will buy them another election.
It seems queer to me. I have been trying to get the Liberal government to put some teeth into some of the investigative powers of the grain commission and the wheat board. When farmers complained that somehow one of the organizations had dumped 1.5 million bushels into the U.S. at half price, that there was an anti-dumping violation, it seemed strange the minister of agriculture would not even respond. That is Liberal justice.
The bill worries me. The Liberals want to increase fines from roughly $1,000 to $250,000. As far as I am concerned that is designed for big multinationals or some of the bigger corporations because they can negotiate and persuade the government to say that they will draw a lot of votes in the next election and it better go easy on them or it could backfire. That is not the type of justice we need.
It is important to start realizing that small players need some protection. Due diligence is not included. There is no recourse but to pay the fine or negotiate. If people have any money left over they might be able to go the courts, but that is usually not the way small players work.
It is interesting to note the bill is designed so that the minister has the power over eight acts and not just one. I remind the House that when I started the investigation into the irregularities and illegalities of some of the acts the first thing I looked at was the smuggling of Grandin wheat into Canada. Snowflake is well known for that trade. If it does not happen to be wheat, it can be done with alcohol or cigarettes and it seems to be very successful.
When I insisted that an investigation be done on the smuggling of Grandin wheat, it was interesting to see that customs officers were willing to testify, willing to come before the courts. However for some reason the agriculture department claimed no wrong was being done. Suddenly I hear the government is very interested in protecting the quality of wheat and the quality of our meat through
monetary funds. The court system could not prevail because it was told simply, more or less, to take a side glance and not prosecute.
I will read a statement I received through an information officer on the issue:
In 1993 when the issue became public through an article in the newspaper, at the same time agriculture made a statement that Canada Customs erred in not stopping the wheat from entering Canada. As a result, Canada Customs no longer allows the importation of wheat into Canada.
There was proof that it was smuggled and the government allowed Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to avoid the law.
How will the AMPS fix that problem? All it will do is put more money into a cash strapped Liberal government when its red combine is dilapidated and ready to fall apart. The Liberals are trying to get more funds to buy another election. I do not think it will work. To do that they should probably make it legal to smuggle liquor too, because there is more money in that than there is in Grandin wheat. Why avoid the small funds? They should go for the big cash because they will need a good combine to win the next election. I do not think it will be done with the faded old red machine I saw in the last election.
The big problem with the AMPS is that it will not deter any of the violations or minor infractions. The big players will use Bill C-61. They do not really care about the money they pay because they usually make more by violating or trespassing the law.
When the last Farm and Country paper came into my office I was very interested in watching what was going on as far as chemical harmonization with the United States was concerned. It is amazing that $10 million worth of chemicals are being smuggled illegally into Canada to be used by farmers. What did the Liberals do about it? The parliamentary secretary said that they just did not have the manpower to stop it. If they do not have the manpower to stop this type of violation, how do they think the AMPS will stop it?
They tried to stop the smuggling of cigarettes by opening the borders 24 hours a day. The customs officers were there lighting candles and making sure the roads were clear. I have news for them. At least in the Snowflake area these violators do not usually use customs offices. They usually find a little road through the bush. That is where they seem to do their best business. How will the AMPS provide protection against those fellows? I do not know how we will enforce it.
When we have a bill like this one which tries more or less to make monetary funds do the trick instead of the justice system, usually it backfires. That is why I am leery of the bill. It will take some pressure off the courts, but it will probably increase the violations and the violators who are able to afford it will become richer instead of poorer.
I will not continue too long on the subject. My colleague from Kindersley-Lloydminster touched on pretty well everything. We need a justice system that is equal for all, a justice system that imposes a certain fine for a certain violation or infraction.
The Bloc member pointed out very vividly that there is a set price for a speeding ticket for going 20 miles an hour over the limit. That is the way the program should work. There should be some guidelines that stipulate the fines to be paid by violators and they should be enforced.
Maybe someday there will be a different combine. Maybe when we get green machinery on the other side we will also have violations and infractions decrease because we will have a system of legal authority that will look after violators and transgressors in a fair and equitable way and the little guy will be protected the same way as the others.
Madam Speaker, I appreciate these few minutes and I hope that some of the amendments that Reform has proposed will be supported.