Elinor Caplan

[Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, October 7th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, in fact, CCRA prides itself in treating all Canadians fairly. There are fairness provisions in place and the statistics tell a very important story. Last year 41,000 individuals who were having difficulty paying their taxes received a break when it came to interest and penalty, through the fairness provisions, which resulted in forgiving some $166 million. Last year as well, 1.9 million everyday Canadians were assessed and got a total of $321 million back, while 477 corporations paid an extra--

[Former Privacy Commissioner, October 7th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, what I can say is that the member opposite is wrong in his assumption. If he looks very carefully at the timeline of the information, which is in the public domain, he will know that in fact the efforts of CCRA were appropriate. We treat everyone equally and fairly under the bankruptcy act and the Income Tax Act, which we administer, and where anyone has any concerns or complaints we always investigate to ensure that people pay their fair share.

[Former Privacy Commissioner, October 7th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite knows that I cannot speak to any individual case.

What I can tell him is that the bankruptcy laws apply to everyone in Canada equally. For anyone who makes a proposal in bankruptcy which involves the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, CCRA then becomes a creditor like any other.

I will say to the member on the proposal in bankruptcy that, in my understanding, the timeline, which is public information, was long before; that was completed long before the decision on the appointment.

[Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, October 2nd, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, first I want to say to the member that all of the losses due to theft are reported in public accounts, not only by CCRA, but by every department of government. Not only are government offices vulnerable to break-ins, but so are businesses and homes. Unfortunately, it is a reality.

Every time there is a break-in, security on that site is examined. The national review that I have called for is looking at each site, site by site, as well as our policies and procedures.

I want to say to the member opposite that he is wrong when he suggests that we are not doing our job. We are. We are concerned about the loss of--

[Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, October 2nd, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I said yesterday that the member opposite was wrong when he suggested that action was not taken immediately. The facts are that as soon as the motion detector went off the police were notified in 30 seconds and within 15 minutes they were on the site. I was notified of this the next day and by that time we already had, on site, IT specialists and reconstruction experts working on that.

I can tell the member that while we have had break-ins across the country and at Laval, this is the first time that a server which had information out of the Laval office--

[Terrorism, October 1st, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, if the member opposite is talking about an organization that has a charitable status number in this country and has it inappropriately, I would like that information because we can take immediate action. I can tell him that we are very careful to ensure that anyone who has a charitable number in Canada is a legitimate charity. If anyone has information that this is not the case and gives it to us, we can take immediate action.

[Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, October 1st, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I call on the member opposite to be responsible. He has suggested that 120,000 identities have been stolen. That is false.

We take very seriously the theft of a computer which included personal information. We have done everything we can. We have contacted the police and we are checking our security systems, but the most important thing we can do and are doing is notifying those people, giving them accurate information and telling them what they can do and should do to ensure that their information is not used improperly.

[Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, October 1st, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the member is completely wrong in the premise of his question. When the break-in occurred, the police were there within 15 minutes.

We take this extremely seriously. Because the databases were contained in that server, which was a computer used as a server, what we had to do, and which was very labour intensive, was rebuild those databases and match that information against current information, of which we have millions of pieces. Our people worked very hard and I can tell the member that we immediately contacted not only the police but the RCMP to assist us.

[Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, October 1st, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite knows full well that of the 110 million pieces of mail I do not personally stuff the envelopes.

We have 50,000 dedicated employees who are human. Sometimes human error occurs. The server was left out but it should have been put away. That long time good employee feels terrible, as I do.

Our priority is to notify those people so that they can take appropriate action to ensure that no one has access to their information and uses it inappropriately. The member should support that.

[Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, October 1st, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said very clearly, one computer that was used as a server was stolen by thieves. It did not contain information from personal or business income tax returns, but information that included social insurance numbers.

I want to say to the member opposite that it is false to say that 120,000 people have had their identities stolen. A social insurance number is only one piece of information. Our priority is to notify those people so that they can take appropriate action to protect themselves by verifying--