This is a clause that has been the subject of enormous debate in the media and of course with the Privacy Commissioner of Canada talking to us and testifying before this committee. The notion of warrantless disclosure of taxpayer information to police under this sweeping set of circumstances is something that we utterly oppose.
The purpose, therefore, of our amendment would be to introduce court oversight of information that is turned over to the police. This, of course, is the Canadian way. This is reflected in countless statutes, in the Income Tax Act and in a variety of other measures.
First of all, we certainly support cracking down on corruption and terrorist financing, but this is way beyond that. It would of course apply to anyone suspected of any offence with a mandatory minimum, and there is a very long list, since the Conservatives came to power, of offences with mandatory minimums.
We have proposed this amendment to provide court oversight of those transfers to ensure that these powers are not abused.