An amended version of the bill to fine barn trespassers has gone back to the House of Commons.
The standing agriculture committee approved Bill C-275, which amends the Health of Animals Act, after clause-by-clause debate Oct. 16.
John Barlow, opposition agriculture critic and committee vice-chair, sponsored the bill.
He was pleased to see the bill pass even with amendments.
“I’m actually really happy because we kept the wording that’s in there in terms of anyone who comes on the farm, unless they have a lawful reason to be there, is going to be subject to this legislation,” he said.
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The NDP had moved an amendment to remove the phrase “without lawful authority or excuse,” but it failed.
NDP MP Alistair MacGregor argued that the provisions should apply to everyone.
“We have had multiple witnesses before this committee demonstrably show with clear evidence that many of the biosecurity failures on farms have been the result of people who were there with lawful authority or excuse,” he said.
However, Liberal MP Francis Drouin said he wouldn’t support penalizing employees or temporary foreign workers.
The bill would not apply to whistleblowers.
A debate over other wording resulted in an amendment removing the word “reckless” from the bill.
“There was some concern from the Liberals that reckless would be hard to quantify,” Barlow said, even though the word is used in the criminal code.
Another Liberal member, Leah Taylor Roy, proposed two amendments but only one passed. That resulted in reducing maximum fines from $50,000 to $25,000 for individuals and from $250,000 to $50,000 for organizations.
“But she also wanted to remove any mention of charges for organizations that kind of drive these things, and that was voted down, thankfully,” said Barlow.
His private member’s bill came after people illegally entered a turkey barn in his Foothills riding and caused distress for the producers as well as the birds.
Producers in other provinces have also been subject to similar action.
The committee heard during testimony that trespass is actually a provincial jurisdiction.
In the end, the bill passed by 8-3.
Barlow said he doesn’t expect it to automatically cruise through the Senate process.
“I expect it will be some similar challenges that we faced at the committee. You’re going to have some of the animal activist groups that are going to put on a full court press to try to slow this down or make amendments.”
However, he also said the cross-party support for C-275 and the collaborative work at committee bodes well for the next stage.
