moved that Bill C-61, an act to establish a system of administrative monetary penalties for the enforcement of the Canadian Agricultural Products Act, the Feeds Act, the Meat Inspection Act, the Pest Control Products Act, the Plant Protection Act and the Seeds Act, be read the third time and passed.
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak for a very few minutes this afternoon at the final stage of consideration given to Bill C-61, the agriculture and agri-food administrative monetary penalties act.
I am very pleased to be able to report to the House, as has been noted earlier in our debates, that this legislation enjoys the solid support of key Canadian agri-food industry associations. Members of the House have already had ample opportunity to consider the bill in detail. Members are well aware of the benefits of Bill C-61 and there is very broad support in the House for the principle of what we are trying to accomplish. Therefore, my comments today will be brief and to the point as I reiterate just a few of the highlights of Bill C-61.
First, this bill will provide my department's officials with a broader range of measures to effectively enforce food safety and quality regulations. For example, they will have the authority and the power to impose monetary penalties and to negotiate solutions to violation situations rather than over-reliance, which has been the case in the past, on the only tool available to them, criminal prosecution.
The bill allows the government to meet industry demands for a system that applies equal and consistent enforcement practices against both importers and domestic companies that market products which do not meet Canadian health, safety or quality standards. This will help to create a level playing field for the domestic food industry.
Bill C-61 will strengthen our enforcement at border points. It will do so by allowing us to issue monetary penalties at ports of entry for violations committed by the travelling public who attempt illegally to bring meat and plant products into Canada that could introduce animal or plant diseases that do not naturally occur in our country.
Bill C-61 is fair and it is expedient. It allows for negotiated solutions for non-compliance. Administrative monetary penalties can be reduced to zero if a violator takes immediate corrective action to come into compliance. After all, that is the objective, to achieve compliance. This results in a better product and more effective enforcement. In this way the system emphasizes compliance and not punishment.
Finally, Bill C-61 will improve the competitiveness of Canadian industry while helping to maintain Canada's well-established international reputation for high quality health and safety standards.
The use of monetary penalties is not a new concept in the federal regulatory system. It is consistent with initiatives that are being undertaken by other departments. Similar systems to the one we are proposing in Bill C-61 are in use by the Department of Transport and by the Department of Human Resources Development.
One point was raised in the committee discussion of Bill C-61, and was raised at the report stage here in the House, which I should deal with for just a moment is the erroneous suggestion that my parliamentary secretary might have in some way misled members of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food with respect to the letters of support my department received from industry associations during the consultation process related to this bill.
Industry stakeholders have been kept fully informed of the progress of Bill C-61 right from day one. They will continue to be informed until the legislation is ultimately enacted.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada started the consultation process on the bill in early 1992. That was during a regulatory review process. The regulatory review confirmed that there was very broad industry support for the concept of an administrative monetary penalty system.
Later in October 1992 a letter was sent by Dr. Art Olson, the assistant deputy minister in my department for the food production and inspection branch. That letter went to all affected industry associations, including those referred to in the list of industry associations which was provided to the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food during its consideration of Bill C-61.
The letter from Dr. Olson informed all of those industry organizations of the department's intention to introduce a system of administrative monetary penalties. The department also during that period engaged in face to face negotiations with a number of relevant groups. After that initial contact and consultation with industry, my department received a number of letters of support from industry organizations.
On the day Bill C-61 was tabled in the House for the first time in December 1994 another letter was sent by my department, this time to 132 industry associations to inform them specifically that the process had moved beyond the consultation stage, beyond the drafting stage to the point at which there was now a formal bill printed and ready to go. It was important to inform the industry of that progress.
In addition to the letter to the 132 industry associations, included in the package was a four-page background document outlining all the important provisions of Bill C-61. The letter in December 1994 specifically invited representatives of the industry to follow up with the department if they had any questions or concerns. A few inquiries came in for further detail.
It is important to note that during that process not one of those organizations, the 132 industry associations consulted, indicated it had changed its position of support for Bill C-61. At the same time the second letter went out a news release was sent to more than 1,000 media and industry contacts to make sure they were informed as well.
Since December 1994 until now the process has moved along through the various parliamentary stages. In recent weeks departmental officials have contacted 10 of the industry associations that had originally indicated support for the legislation. These are the associations referred to by the member for Kindersley-Lloydminster when he raised questions as to whether these organizations were still supportive of Bill C-61.
Those organizations have been contacted once again to reconfirm their position. Of those 10 organizations mentioned by the member for Kindersley-Lloydminster only three said they had ever been contacted by the Reform Party. Nine said they fully continue to support this legislation. The tenth involved a person who had just come on to the job in the last number of weeks and was not yet in a position to express an opinion.
The department is making arrangements to ensure the individual in that important position will be fully briefed by the department on all the details of Bill C-61.
It is quite obvious the consultative effort here has been lengthy and thorough. The information provided to the committee and to the House by the government and representatives of the government with respect to this consultative process has been complete and accurate.
The process of bringing Bill C-61 now to its final stage in the House has been a good process. There has been ample time for good discussion. Many ideas have been brought forward in that process, either informally in the drafting stage or formally in the form of amendments in committee and in the House which have been very useful. The government has demonstrated openness and flexibility in dealing with all of these ideas. A number of those proposed amendments were accepted by the government and have been incorporated into what is now the final draft of Bill C-61.
The bill will provide for a system which will deal with violations and potential violations of health and safety rules and regulations. It will be faster, fairer, more cost effective and more flexible in order to increase compliance with all of our health and safety regulations pertaining to agriculture and agri-food and also to assist Canadian agri-food businesses in winning and maintaining a competitive edge.
With the thorough discussion we have had with respect to this legislation and all of the proposed amendments, I urge my fellow members of the House on both sides to support Bill C-61 and to give it speedy passage on its way to the other place.
