Justice Committee on March 11th, 2008

[Joe Comartin, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

And that occurred?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Yes, it did.

[Joe Comartin, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Within that list of names, was there any priority given to the names?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

I don't believe there was, Mr. Comartin. I believe I was given three names, with a recommendation from the committee that any of the three would be acceptable. I received quite a bit of documentation--CVs, background information, that sort of thing.

[Joe Comartin, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Did you read the entire report that you received from the committee?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

It depends on which report you're referring to. It's been quite some time since I've looked at it, but I remember reading all the material that was given to me in coming to my decision.

[Joe Comartin, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

I'm conscious of the confidentiality issue here, so I won't mention any names. From reading that, was it not obvious that one of the other candidates, other than the one put forward, was in fact given a priority, without naming him as number one?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Well, what was obvious to me--and I know I have this right--was that the individuals had the approval of the committee and that all of them were deemed to be competent and appropriate individuals from whom to choose.

My understanding is that as Minister of Justice I had the ability and the right to choose any one of the three recommended to me. My understanding was that they were all competent and all well qualified. Indeed, I believe it'll be confirmed tomorrow when you have a chance....

I know you're quite familiar with the individual who's been doing this job for the last 14 or 15 months. He's done a good job up to this point, and he was one of the individuals recommended to me.

[Joe Comartin, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

That wasn't my question. What I asked was whether it wasn't obvious that there was in fact a preferential candidate. I'm not suggesting that all three were not qualified; I'm not suggesting that, Mr. Minister.

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

I have to tell you that at this point, Mr. Comartin, it's been several months since I looked at the material. Inasmuch as I actually came here for the identity theft bill, I haven't had an opportunity to review what I read quite some time ago about this. But as I said, I remember reading very carefully the CVs and the material on three individuals recommended by the committee and I made a recommendation. I believe I have the constitutional ability to do that--to move forward--according to the legislation.

[Joe Comartin, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

I'm not disputing any of those. The question remains as to whether your analysis of the report did not lead you to the conclusion that there was a superior candidate.

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

My analysis did, and that's the individual I recommended to you. My understanding is that he will be here before you tomorrow.

[The Chair, Conservative, Art Hanger]

Thank you, Minister.

Mr. Comartin, I think you can focus your attention now on identity theft. I believe you've--

[Joe Comartin, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Given that answer, I agree with you.

[Réal Ménard, Bloc, Hochelaga, QC]

Mr. Chair, I have a point of order.

Excuse me, Mr. Comartin, but there have been a number of references to a selection committee on which all political parties were apparently...

[The Chair, Conservative, Art Hanger]

Monsieur Ménard--

[Réal Ménard, Bloc, Hochelaga, QC]

Let me finish my point of order.

The Bloc Québecois was never approached about this selection committee. I checked the facts with the office of the leader. We can settle this tomorrow.

[The Chair, Conservative, Art Hanger]

I believe the matter on Mr. Comartin's questions has been dealt with by the chair.

Mr. Comartin, may we have your questions on identity theft now?

[Joe Comartin, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

With regard to proposed section 402.2 of the act, or the proposed law--

[The Chair, Conservative, Art Hanger]

I have a point of order here, Mr. Comartin.

[Larry Bagnell, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

Mr. Chair, the committee agreed at the last meeting that questions on this candidate would be acceptable at this meeting. Whether or not the minister was informed is not our problem, but Mr. Comartin should be allowed to ask whatever he wants in his timeframe.

[The Chair, Conservative, Art Hanger]

Mr. Comartin has moved on.

Mr. Comartin, you have the floor.

[Joe Comartin, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

I'm serious. Based on the last answer I got from the minister, there's no use pursuing it.

With regard to proposed section 402.2, at the briefing, Mr. Minister, your staff was kind enough to pass me some information. I was concerned about this proposed section. They pointed out the section of the code around housebreaking tools. This is what this is drawn from, and the Supreme Court of Canada decision, R. v. Holmes, back in 1988.

You may want some assistance from Mr. Bartlett on this.

The section of the Criminal Code on the housebreaking tools uses the wording “without lawful excuse”. It seemed to me that was an essential ingredient in the decision by the Supreme Court of Canada. That wording doesn't appear here; we substituted for it “who knowingly obtains or possesses”.

When I first read the bill, and before I looked at that case in the other section of the code, I was really concerned about the ability of our prosecutors to be able to prove this section. I wonder if you or somebody else could comment on it. I have real problems with whether this is going to be useful.

Let me just add to that. I think we've all expressed support for the rest of the bill, Mr. Minister. We just want to be sure that it can be as effective as possible.

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

I'm with you on that one.

[Joe Comartin, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

This is the one section I'm worried about.