Debates of Oct. 20th, 2006

Witness protection program act--Bill C-286

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

The House has heard the terms of the motion. Is it agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Peter Milliken]

I declare the motion carried.

(Motion agreed to)

Royal Canadian Mounted Police

[Tina Keeper, Liberal, Churchill, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I have the pleasure to present two separate petitions today.

The first petition is signed by hundreds of residents from Cormorant, Manitoba, who request that public safety and national security service the community of Cormorant with an RCMP officer.

Child Care

[Tina Keeper, Liberal, Churchill, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is from residents in Thompson, Manitoba, requesting the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development to reinstate the early learning and child care initiatives and the provincial agreements.

Justice

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to table in this House five petitions containing over 3,000 signatures from residents of Abbotsford and from residents across Canada. These signatures have been collected by justice advocate Gertie Pool.

The petitioners demand that our criminal laws be changed to ensure that repeat sexual offenders such as Peter Whitmore be kept away from our communities and children.

The petitioners support my private member's bill, Bill C-277, which doubles the maximum sentence for luring children over the Internet.

The petitioners demand that Parliament introduce longer maximum sentences for sexual offences and impose mandatory minimum sentences for the most severe sexual crimes.

The Environment

[Denise Savoie, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce a petition from my constituents in Victoria, which is very timely in light of the government's introduction of the hot air act.

The petitioners call upon Parliament to honour our legal commitment to the Kyoto treaty; to further pledge to reduce Canada's greenhouse emissions by 30% below the 1990 level by 2020 and to 80% by 2050, as the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and the State of California have done; to institute a revenue neutral carbon tax to increase prices of fossil fuels; and, finally, to enforce increasing fuel efficiency standards on all motor vehicles.

Sri Lanka

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

Mr. Speaker, members will be aware that Sri Lanka has degenerated into a state of civil war. Many of my constituents originate from Sri Lanka and are, of course, very concerned. It is a civil war that, frankly, no one can win.

The petitioners from my riding, well over 100 of them, are urging the Government of Canada to send a strong message to the government of Sri Lanka to cease military offences immediately, to allow international relief agencies to enter Tamil areas to provide humanitarian aid to the affected civilian population, to stop shelling and bombing civilian inhabitants, and to allow international monitors to investigate the massacre of Tamil aid workers.

This is a very serious petition and of deep concern to my constituents

Marriage

[Myron Thompson, Conservative, Wild Rose, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table two petitions with hundreds of signatures from people throughout my riding and other parts of the great province of Alberta calling on Parliament to reopen the issue of marriage and to repeal or amend the Marriage for Civil Purposes Act in order to promote and defend marriage as the lawful union of one man and one women to the exclusion of all others.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table a petition signed by 363 residents from the province of Quebec, asking Parliament to re-open the debate on marriage and to repeal or amend the Civil Marriage Act, in order to promote and defend marriage as the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.

Age of Consent

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition to the House signed by hundreds in my riding concerned with the age of consent. This petition comes from the people of St. Catharines and it asks the government to raise the age of consent from 14 to 16.

Marriage

[Colin Mayes, Conservative, Okanagan—Shuswap, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to present a petition from residents of my riding of Okanagan—Shuswap as well as from residents of Kelowna, Westbank, Longview and Peachland.

The petitioners call on the House to reopen the issue of marriage and to repeal or amend the Marriage for Civil Purposes Act in order to promote and defend marriage as the lawful union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.

Refugees

[Diane Ablonczy, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, it is my honour to present a petition on behalf of residents of my riding of Calgary—Nose Hill and area. The petitioners call upon Parliament to significantly increase the number of refugees that Canada accepts annually. On their part, the petitioners pledge to do their part to become neighbours, to overcome fears, to live in hope, and to make Canada a warm and welcoming place for refugees and other newcomers in our communities.

Questions on the Order Paper

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform]

Mr. Speaker, I ask that all questions be allowed to stand.

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

The House resumed consideration of the motion that Bill C-25, An Act to amend the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act and the Income Tax Act and to make a consequential amendment to another Act, be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act

[Mario Laframboise, Bloc, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise on behalf of the Bloc Québécois to address Bill C-25. I would like to reread the title of the bill, so that Quebeckers and Canadians clearly understand what this legislation is about.

This bill is entitled An Act to amend the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act and the Income Tax Act and to make a consequential amendment to another Act. As people may have already figured out, I wish to say from the outset that the Bloc Québécois will support this legislation, because of the importance of the fight against terrorist financing.

We feel that this is a major challenge and that such a bill is necessary, particularly since the fight against organized crime has always been a priority for the Bloc Québécois. Hon. members may remember the work done by our colleague Richard Marceau, the former member of Parliament for Charlesbourg—Jacques-Cartier, who succeeded in having this House pass a private member's bill reversing the burden of proof in the case of the proceeds of crime.

As a result of interventions by the Bloc Québécois in this House, the federal government has decided to amend the Criminal Code so that criminals now must prove that the fruits of their labour or proceeds of crime are acquired otherwise, that is, legally. Previously, the onus was on the Crown and the government to prove that criminals' income or assets were proceeds of crime. Today, the onus is reversed, and the accused must prove that he or she worked to acquire certain assets.

Such situations exist in Quebec, and in my riding, I have seen amazing stories that can often turn out to be terrible stories of crime. Reporters and the media have given nicknames such as “Richie Rich” or “Peter Cash” to some criminals, whose personal possessions and equipment include planes, helicopters, luxury cars and waterfront properties. These people were so nicknamed by the community, because others knew that they were involved in illegal activities and had different sources of income from their own. As well, for safety reasons, neighbours do not dare question how some people have acquired certain assets.

Now, when they are charged, the burden of proof rests on them. This is an initiative of former member Richard Marceau, a lawyer who, as the Bloc Québécois critic, introduced a private member's bill and convinced Parliament to reverse the burden of proof in this case. The Bloc Québécois has always been a staunch defender of the interests of Quebeckers, but it has also always fought against organized crime.

Our colleague from Sainte-Hyacinthe—Bagot openly criticized marijuana producers. He even received anonymous calls threatening his life. During the 2000 election campaign, the leader of the Bloc Québécois had to have RCMP officers with him wherever he went because he had received threats after the Bloc Québécois dared to tackle organized crime.

The men and women of the Bloc Québécois will always rise proudly in this House to speak out for citizens who, all too often, are threatened and find themselves powerless in the face of organized crime, the ramifications of which are especially significant since marijuana growing has become an international business supported not only by organized crime, but also by biker gangs and street gangs.

None of that will make the Bloc Québécois members back off from their role as champions or leading experts in the fight against organized crime. Understandably, Mr. Speaker, we will also be championing Bill C-25; in other words, we will be supporting it.

However, in supporting this kind of bill, which deals with terrorist financing, including, of course,money laundering and organized crime, one definitely must respect the privacy rights of citizens. Therefore, it is important to strike a balance between upholding the public interest and fighting organized crime, terrorism and money laundering, while at the same time respecting the rights of individuals, honest Quebeckers who might come under investigation.

That is why it is essential to ensure that any information that may be requested concerning citizens or individuals not be used for any purpose other than the one for which it was requested.

Again, in fighting and defending themselves against organized crime, Quebeckers can be proud to rely on the Bloc Québécois members to stand up for them and ensure that information concerning their private lives will never be used for any other purpose or made public.

We have seen it happen. Earlier, I heard a Liberal member who was a minister in the Liberal government say that the Liberals have always been staunch defenders of interests and privacy. It was under their watch, though, that banks carrying out information processing through subsidiaries outside—

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

The hon. member for Hull—Aylmer on a point of order.

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I apologize to my colleague.

It seems there are not enough members in the House to proceed.

May we please have a quorum call?

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

Would the clerk please count the members present?

And the count having been taken:

[The Acting Speaker, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

I am pleased to inform the House that we have quorum.

The hon. member for Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel may continue.

[Mario Laframboise, Bloc, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

Mr. Speaker, perhaps my colleague from Hull—Aylmer wanted to ensure that I had a good audience for my speech. Then again, perhaps he asked for a quorum call because I was talking about the Liberal Party, which claimed to be the great defender of citizens' interests because of its fight to protect personal information even though it failed at the task when it was in power.

Under that party's mandate, more personal information than ever ended up in foreign hands, largely because Canadian banks were allowed to do business with affiliates in the United States. Laws protecting personal information are not the same in the United States as they are in Canada.

Honest citizens were sometimes harassed by foreign parties trying to sell them all kinds of products, especially banking services. Canadian banks allowed their American affiliates to make personal information available. This all happened on the Liberals' watch. I hope that the member for Hull—Aylmer wanted more people to hear my speech. I hope it was not because of the part where I said how poorly the Liberal government performed when it was in power.

The Bloc Québécois will support Bill C-25 in order to protect personal information and privacy. Quebeckers and Canadians can count on members of the Bloc Québécois to defend and protect their interests in committee by having the Privacy Commissioner and the Access to Information Commissioner appear before the committee to explain what is good about the bill and what should be added in order to protect personal information. It is all very well to take action against money laundering, terrorist activities and organized crime, but we must also protect honest citizens who could end up under investigation for nothing.

I will provide some background, since Bill C-25 did not come out of nowhere. Despite the Conservative government's good faith, it did not invent the wheel. One thing is for certain, the Conservatives did not invent Kyoto. Everyone agrees on that.

Bill C-25 is a successor to Bill C-22, which was introduced by the Liberal government and broadened the coverage of the act. Bill C-25 amends Bill C-22. In other words, Bill C-22 made it mandatory for federally regulated financial institutions, currency exchange businesses, casinos and other intermediaries to report suspicious financial transactions. Suspicious financial transactions are cash deposits exceeding $7,500.

The former government's Bill C-22 applied to financial institutions, currency exchange businesses, casinos and other financial intermediaries. The Conservative government is broadening this coverage and therefore increasing the responsibility of all agencies which, in addition to dealing in securities, also deal in other financial instruments, and of all persons and entities engaged in the business of remitting funds or transmitting funds by any means or through any person, entity or electronic funds transfer network, or of issuing or redeeming money orders, traveller’s cheques or other similar negotiable instruments.

We can offer our congratulations to the Conservative government for having extended monitoring activities to include not only banks and institutions that transfer money regularly, but also to other entities that are often not openly included. This applies to electronic funds transfers and businesses that sell or purchase money orders, travellers' cheques and other negotiable items. Thus, monitoring activities have been extended. We do not want these organizations used for money laundering. I think we can support this.

It also extends to government departments and agents that sell precious metals under regulation. Members of the Bloc Québécois pointed out that there is some degree of illegal trade in diamonds and gold, among others, which are not necessarily liquid assets, but are precious metals that can be used as currency in money laundering.

I believe that the Conservative government listened closely and covered these potential complaints from various stakeholders.

Previously, all the entities targeted by the legislation had to contact the centre, under section 83(1) of the Criminal Code, which sets out the obligation to inform the RCMP or CSIS of any property that belongs to a terrorist group. The new bill adds section 8 of the United Nations Suppression of Terrorism Regulations. Those entities must therefore contact the RCMP and CSIS.

The new bill prohibits all entities from opening an account for an individual if that person's identity cannot be established. Not only is there no obligation, entities are in fact prohibited from opening a bank account. The bank must then contact the RCMP or CSIS directly to launch an investigation.

Furthermore, the bill states that prior to doing business with a politically exposed foreign person—a judge, head of state, minister or other individual who has held a specific office—the institution must obtain the approval of senior management before entering into any transaction with the individual.

Thus, one cannot do business with exposed persons from another country or who would be likely to carry out types of transfers or financing for terrorist activities. They are required to obtain specific authorizations from senior management of banks.

In addition, if a Canadian organization does business with a foreign bank, it is required to take measures to ensure that the foreign bank is not a shell bank, to obtain senior management approval, and to set out in writing all transactions.

In short, there is an obligation not only to know with whom one is doing business but also to scrutinize the banks with which one is doing business. Consequently, when a client wants to conduct transactions with foreign financial institutions, the bank is obliged to verify the credentials and to ensure that the sales, transactions or other operations are not fictitious. Its responsibility has been increased.

In the case of electronic funds transfers, the bank or other business must include the name, address, and the client's account number or other reference number, whether sending or receiving such transfers.

Electronic funds transfers are very popular now. The old bill was implemented in 2001 by the former government, which, once again, did not do its job. The new bill has been introduced for a reason. The Liberal government did nothing for five years. It did not manage to bring a bill into being. Obviously, things have changed since then, and significant numbers of financial transactions take place through electronic funds transfers. That is why the government introduced this new bill, which covers electronic funds transfers.

This new bill follows the United States' lead by requiring entities to establish a program to evaluate their ability to detect transactions that involve laundering the proceeds of crime and financing terrorist activities.

That is what the Bloc Québécois has trouble accepting. If we want to do what the Americans do, we should not only do what they do right, but avoid doing what they do wrong. That is why the Bloc Québécois is being so careful. This is about the ability to detect transactions that involve laundering the proceeds of crime. It would be nice to have that ability and to intervene, but we have to make sure we protect personal information.

Obviously, we will not be investigating. As we saw with the Maher Arar affair, we have to be careful with our investigations. Even with bank investigations, we have to be sure we have a situation that requires it. We cannot investigate just for the fun of it. We would risk arresting honest citizens who might find themselves under the microscope because we want to be just like the Americans, who figure that while they are at it, they might as well investigate a whole bunch of people. We must also avoid American-style mistakes, like casting too wide a net. They often proceed on the basis of race, religion, gender and so on. We are better off using a case-by-case approach and having really good reasons for investigating. Otherwise it is too easy to make mistakes.

The members of the Bloc Québécois will continue to defend the interests of Quebeckers and ensure that the Canadian government does not make the same mistakes as the American government. Any investigations with respect to detection must be justified, not conducted without good reason. Any evaluation of certain bank transactions cannot be done carelessly, because this could lead to honest citizens being investigated without cause.

Furthermore, we must ensure that no information on citizens who should not even have been investigated is shared with the United States, or any other country. In short, we must ensure that the Canadian government does not make the same mistakes as the Americans. Once again, only the Bloc Québécois can guarantee this to Quebeckers.

Bill C-25 subjects Canadian banks' foreign subsidiaries to the same rules as the Canadian banks themselves. It was high time, because the Liberals made the mistake of allowing our Canadian banks with foreign subsidiaries to share information, even though foreign laws often do not have the same respect for privacy. This is true of American laws.

To that end, Revenue Canada agents will now have the authority to give the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre any information they receive from another agent, under the Charities Registration (Security Information) Act. The aim of this new authority is to better fight against the financing of terrorist groups through charitable organizations and through businesses that perform electronic funds transfers. Once again, I would like to point out that the registration of charities must be carefully monitored, although charities are normally made up of honest citizens.

That is why the Bloc Québécois will fight tooth and nail for privacy and personal information protection. One may be open to the idea of all categories of organizations being monitored for money laundering, but efforts have to be made to ensure that charities, which bring together law-abiding citizens, not be subject, as they are in the United States, to a systematic analysis of their data bases or have their members subjected to money laundering analyses.

The Bloc Québécois will support Bill C-25, as long as honest citizens, honest Quebeckers are free from undue monitoring by government organizations eager to copy the Americans, who seem to think that, while they are at it, they might as well monitor or investigate just about everyone. We do not want that. That is not consistent with the philosophy of life and values that the citizens of Quebec have chosen for themselves. We want the privacy and personal information of honest citizens to be protected. Once again, they can count on the Bloc Québécois.

[Marcel Lussier, Bloc, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel very much for his speech. He touched upon the issue of offshore subsidiaries. I would like to know whether he sees a link between money laundering and certain tax havens.

[Mario Laframboise, Bloc, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I believe that one of the objectives of this bill is precisely to prevent Canadian banks from moving into tax havens and dishonest Quebec or Canadian citizens from conducting transactions and thus engaging in money laundering. I think there is a great willingness to act.

Of course, this is a little complex. We know that the bank network is more complex. Some of our banks feel that they are too small and would really like to merge in order to conquer the world. Often, this is in the interest of shareholders who receive their dividends every three months. However, it must not be against the interests of Quebeckers and Canadians.

I thank my colleague for his question, which is totally justified. He knows that the Bloc Québécois will be able to protect Quebeckers' interests with this type of bill.