Indeed we agree with you that privacy cannot stand in the way of public safety and cannot be used to shield illegal activities. That is our starting point. We have consulted widely, I would say, with chiefs of police, the RCMP, and CSIS, as well as with civil society, to truly make the distinctions that are appropriate in consideration of this legislation.
The commissioner earlier referred to the document called “A Matter of Trust”. You would find if very helpful, I believe, in that it puts forward an analytical framework, precisely to make the distinctions that you suggest must be made.
That analytical framework calls, first of all, for empirical evidence of the need for certain powers that do indeed call for breach of privacy in certain circumstances. Secondly, it calls for the justification to keep the personal information that is collected, and then of course an oversight mechanism to ensure that all the rights that must be upheld are upheld.