Information & Ethics committee  The way I understand it, when you do a merger or an acquisition, you need to have some data and information about officers, about the business they're in, and so on, and some of this information needs to be—the argument goes—“access without consent”, because otherwise they'd become aware of what's going on.

Information & Ethics committee  No. We're dealing with a hypothetical situation. This law was drafted using the Quebec model for inspiration. The policies and ideas are derived from the Quebec act. Quebec was the first province to adopt similar legislation. If Quebec wanted to amend its legislation and remove, for instance, the provisions respecting consent, then we would object because personal information on Canadians must be protected by law.

Information & Ethics committee  We may have misunderstood the requirement, but we were told very specifically that we were called here to provide an overview of the bill. It's like PIPEDA 101. If you had asked for a recommendation, we would have reacted by either seeking authority to give you a recommendation, or by telling you we could not do it and seeking your guidance on inviting the minister.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, we believe that the support witnesses you have on your list will probably propose some of those amendments. So we'll give you a heads-up. That's our understanding of what's coming in front of you.

Information & Ethics committee  Or “will clarify”.

Information & Ethics committee  We've just discussed that point. You are correct. The expression “will confirm” is significant. It will clarify the situation.

Information & Ethics committee  We have a specific carve-out for investigation purposes and crime fighting. Quite honestly, we have not had any complaints. Anytime there was a deficiency, it was amended. There was an anti-terrorism kind of provision that was passed.

Information & Ethics committee  There are quasi-judicial bodies with different powers, like AMPs--administrative monetary penalties, I think they're called, which can actually impose penalties, severe penalties, directly. You would have to have a legislative change to do that.

Information & Ethics committee  Not right now. You would have to amend the act to actually provide it with that particular power. There are going to be some advocates who come in front of you and suggest strongly that this should be done.

Information & Ethics committee  Some of them wanted a more comprehensive approach to what's happening in their own jurisdiction. Some provinces have decided to go with PIPEDA, and so far they have no intention of passing a provincially based law.

Information & Ethics committee  There could be, and I guess they'll cross that bridge when they come to it. Right now, they're quite happy to not enact it.

Information & Ethics committee  There's no law like PIPEDA that's economy-wide, independent of various sectors. There you have health privacy, financial privacy, and those kinds of bills. I think there's also—

Information & Ethics committee  They're national, yes. But then I think there's some provision in various states. So you're really talking about complexity. It's very complicated there.

Information & Ethics committee  There is no duplication; it's either one or the other. The moment they pass their law, we are out of it.

Information & Ethics committee  As a good bureaucrat will tell you, there's never enough money.