I have a question and a comment to make. I'm speaking to Mr. Wild, since it appears he's a law clerk who drafted the document.
If agreed to, amendment BQ-4 will amend the proposed section 44 in the act. In proposed subsection 44(1), we want to delete the expression “has reasonable grounds to believe” and replace it with “who believes”. Isn't there a big difference between the words “has reasonable grounds to believe” and the word “believes”? The person must no longer have reasonable grounds to believe that...
In view of the case law, if we agreed to this amendment, we'd be faced with all kinds of problems. Regardless of who files the complaint, from the moment we replace the words “has reasonable grounds to believe”, an expression we are all familiar with in Canadian law, with the word “believes”, how are we going to make it, since the word “believes” used alone is not the equivalent of “has reasonable grounds to believe”? The case law will overwhelm us and we won't be able to go any further under this section. We may cause a problem in which an individual, no matter how well intentioned he may be, who does not have “reasonable grounds to believe” may well be prosecuted, precisely because the word “believes” is not the equivalent of “has reasonable grounds to believe”.
I'd like the committee to consider my comments, since the texts on the evidence are diametrically opposed. The word “believes” is being proposed in one case, and “has reasonable grounds to believe” in the other.