Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you all for coming here as well.
This has been a very interesting and informative session. It seems as though each one becomes much more interesting and much more informed.
I'm rather being kind. I don't want to be unkind, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that we see the complexity of this act and this bill. When I was first elected, I had the good fortune of sitting with Ms. Stoddart at a meal. She introduced herself, and I thought, “Privacy? That's interesting; I've never heard of it before.” If there are 33 million people in Canada, probably 32.999 million or whatever have never heard of it either.
As a matter of fact, I remember talking to one of the parliamentarians who came here to one of the meetings; he'd been here a little longer than I, and he was surprised and had never heard of it either. I don't know whether it was of the Privacy Commissioner, but of one of the commissioners.
The point I'm trying to make, and I made this statement to some of you and publicly made it at the last meeting too, is that I really believe the insurance industry and the banking industry could write the book on privacy. I think you do a good job and I believe it's in your best interests to do a good job.
What's beginning to happen, though, as I view this whole process, is that the average guy on the street.... Before I was a parliamentarian, I was a businessman, and I commend you for your work, but if I got a brief like that talking about privacy, I would have the living daylights scared out of me.
I think the complexity is getting to the point now where, aside from the banks, the insurance companies, and possibly major manufacturers such as Zellers and Wal-Mart and such, the bill is getting way over our heads. We're getting into waters that I don't know if we want to tread. It is for that reason that I liked the recommendation that we leave things the way they are.
Is there a way we can get around this? Is there a way that possibly the industries I've mentioned, and whoever else it would pertain to, could move in those areas and leave the rest of us alone, or do we all need to be dragged along with this current of complexity?
I leave that open to anybody.