Finance committee  I have to admit that my experience is totally on the investment side of the banking industry. As a result, I was licensed under the Canadian Securities Administrators, which is the umbrella organization of 13 provincial and territorial securities commissions. Those securities commissions are not government funded, they're funded by fees and payments by the investment industry.

Finance committee  I don't know that we necessarily need a separation, but we need independent protection and independent eyesight on the behaviours that banks undertake with regard to investment customers because we're dealing with Canadians' life savings. If the professor at the University of Toronto is correct that it's a 3.8% harvest or additional gouge of investor savings....

Finance committee  I'll speed it up. I'll sum up with a quote from David Dodge, the former governor of the Bank of Canada in 2005, who suggested that there is a perception in international financial circles that Canadian markets are the “Wild West”, and that it hurts Canadian companies when they try to raise money abroad.

Finance committee  Thank you very much, sir. I'm grateful to this committee for allowing the opportunity for my voice to be heard. I began working in the financial industry in Canada in 1984. By the 1990s, most of the investment firms in Canada had been purchased by the big banks. I worked inside those financial firms for 20 years and I participated in one of the first investment offices to be housed inside a Royal Bank branch at that time.

Justice committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I was saying that I'm here to tell you how to commit the perfect crime, possibly with the help of Bill C-52. I mentioned the Criminal Code of Canada and the fact that if I were to rob a financial institution, the Criminal Code would probably apply to me, but in a financial institution in Canada governed by the Securities Act in 13 provinces and territories, there's any one of a thousand methods that I've witnessed of robbing the savings of Canadians and Canadian taxpayers, and they're often not subject to criminal sanctions of any kind.

Justice committee  That's no problem.

Justice committee  Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to tell you how to commit the perfect crime, perhaps with the help of Bill C-52. Let's call it “How to Steal Billions in Six Minutes and Never Be Caught”. If I were to rob a financial institution in Canada, I am subject to the penalties of the Criminal Code; I think everybody knows that.

Justice committee  Yes?

Finance committee  Correct.

Finance committee  I would cite Richard Nixon and say that the same people who created this problem cannot be relied to solve it.

Finance committee  Thank you. I think he had two questions, one being whether we should meet again before the 25th. Personally, I have a full-time job to go to, so I wouldn't be able to do so, but thank you for the invitation. I would love to come back, however, if this committee or this government considers convening a royal commission or a judicial inquiry into financial abuse and white collar crimes.

Finance committee  I worked for 20 years in the financial business as a retail adviser. I left and retired in 2004, after deciding that the ethics and the codes of conduct of my industry did not meet the promises made. I now fly a helicopter over the Columbia Icefield. So I probably have a dream job, but I've devoted by life to the financial industry and I feel somewhat sorry that I had to walk away from it.

Finance committee  Absolutely. There should be proceeds of crime legislation that causes people to be responsible for their actions, fraudulent or otherwise. Robert is asking for compensation funds and those kinds of things, and I somewhat agree, but I don't think the government should simply bail out the fraudulent actions of white-collar criminals and allow those people to skate free in a Canadian justice system that does not prosecute white-collar criminals.

Finance committee  I truly hope for a single securities regulator. I've dealt with the securities commissions across the country for 20 years. They are dysfunctional at best, and at worst, they are complicit in the granting of legal exemptions to industry agencies. If this gentleman makes a complaint to any securities commission in Canada, the doors are closed to him.

Finance committee  Yes, I can. Thank you very much. Number one, end self-regulation. Most societies have discovered that allowing foxes to guard the henhouses is inappropriate. I read in the newspaper yesterday that consumer protection laws being enacted in Quebec will provide great consumer protection against faulty products and those responsible for them.