Mr. Speaker, judging by that last little go round you can tell this is a long, hot summer night. We are so fortunate to be here in the House discussing Bill C-25, which could only come from the minds of Liberals. The bill is a very complex piece of legislation. It is difficult to read, it is difficult to interpret and it is difficult to discuss. It is typical Liberal legislation.
As a matter of fact the bill could almost be called frightening from the perspective of the average Canadian. Understanding the intent of the bill, which is suspect in itself, and based on reading the text, it is a challenge.
We Reformers are up to challenges from the Liberals when they bring in complex legislation, thinking that perhaps the average Canadian whom we represent is not going to understand it. We are the watchdogs. We are leading the charge for average Canadians. We attempt to clarify complex bills with which the Liberal government tries to fool the people.
Despite the complexity of the bill, it is clear that the government is following a trend which has already been set in other parliamentary democracies, like Australia. It is hard to believe but the trend is toward simplification and streamlining of the regulatory process. That is also hard to believe coming from the Liberal Party. It is to make the regulatory process more compatible with the present day needs of commerce, government and the public.
Goodness knows, if there is one thing the public, commerce and government need is more simplified regulations. Any chamber of commerce, any business organization will tell you it costs Canadian consumers and businesses billions and billions of dollars a year because ineffective and unnecessary regulations are still on the books that some government in the past has put in place.
What this country really needs, and what this government should do, instead of trying to put in complex legislation, is do a cost test on every regulation we have and find out whether it is really worthwhile or whether it is just sitting there in a redundant state. There is no doubt that streamlining and simplification, in itself, are both desirable and necessary. However, we found a flaw in this bill and it is a deadly flaw. There is no provision for disallowance. In other words, the regulatory committee, the watchdog of the regulations, cannot disallow a regulation that is unlawful or ultra vires.
My colleague, the member for North Vancouver, sits on the Standing Joint Committee on the Scrutiny of Regulations. It is a committee made up of members from the House and from the Senate. The task of the committee is to examine regulations that have been made by the government and its departments in order to determine whether they are legal and consistent with the intent of the legislation under which they are made.
The vast majority of the regulations that pass through the committee are entirely in order. They may not be good regulations but from a legal point they are entirely in order. They generally require no comment.
A small percentage have to be followed up with the department involved. Quite often the problem is simply a matter of correcting minor differences in the meaning between the English and French versions of the regulations or clarifying the meaning if a misinterpretation is a possibility.
As I said, under this bill the committee does not have the power to disallow a regulation which is ultra vires or unlawful. This power is rarely used, but nevertheless is a very important power for the committee to retain. I think most Liberals would agree with me on this. The regulation watchdog must have the ability to enforce its decisions or those decisions could be rendered meaningless.
Bill C-25 makes the provision for regulations to be referred to the committee, but contains no provisions for disallowance. This means that even if the committee found that a regulation was illegal, it simply could not disallow the regulation.
It is the failure to include a disallowance procedure that makes Bill C-25 significantly different from the streamlining legislation passed in Australia. That government had the foresight to put in a disallowance clause so that the committee could do some meaningful work and make some meaningful decisions.
My colleague from North Vancouver, in his wisdom and in his common sense, introduced a private member's bill that would add a disallowance procedure to Bill C-25.
Everyone in this place knows that the chances of a private member's bill, no matter how good it is, no matter how much
common sense it contains, no matter how it would help democracy in this place, no matter how much it would make the lives of Canadians better, no matter how much it would make the lives of Canadian business people better, has very little chance of getting through this House.
The reason sits right across the way. This Liberal government allows very few private member's bills to proceed. I can talk personally about that. I knew halfway through this speech I would get to this private member's bill problem.
My Bill C-201, for example, deals with the sentencing of drunk drivers who kill. Liberals know it is a bill that the Canadian people want. They know it is a bill that is long overdue. They know it is a bill that is going to create a deterrent to people who drink and drive, and as a result, kill.
A Liberal legal mind is telling me that because of some legal complication my bill cannot be put through. Despite these legal minds in the Liberal Party or maybe because of these legal minds in the Liberal Party, they are unable to understand what the average Canadian wants.
We have presented thousands and thousands of names on petitions demanding that Bill C-201 go through, at least to committee. This Liberal government, through the whip, through the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice, has not allowed any Liberal member who wanted to speak in favour of this bill to speak. That is shameful, absolutely shameful.
My colleague from North Vancouver introduced a private member's bill that would add a disallowance procedure to Bill C-25. Everyone in this place, because of the hard headedness of this Liberal government-I take that back, soft headedness-
