Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Minister, Ms. Ryan, thank you for joining us today.
Mr. Minister, the open way in which you say you want to tackle this problem is inspiring for me. I believe that there is a rare unanimity among members of the committee in agreeing that the recommendations will have to push the limits a little. So we will be going a long way.
Mr. Minister, I heard you say that we need to marshal every tool at our disposal to detect, stop, and prosecute proceeds of crime from money laundering and terrorism financing. There's room for improvement, you said, but you also pointed out quite correctly that there are some issues: the division of powers in our country in terms of the federal-provincial relationship, privacy concerns, and the constitutional right to protect solicitor-client privilege. We understand all that, but I must tell you, after seeing and speaking with our witnesses and after having an opportunity to see what's being done in other jurisdictions such as the United States and the United Kingdom, that I do think there is a lot of room for improvement in how we organize ourselves.
One of the key aspects of it, Minister—and I'd love to get your initial thoughts on this—is transforming the relationship that FINTRAC has not only with the financial institutions that submit their suspicious transaction reports, but also with with law enforcement agencies or other government agencies. This is about transforming that relationship so that rather than a one-way relationship, which is how it seems to work, it's a direct relationship into FINTRAC.
There's no opportunity for the financial institutions to get regular and more precise feedback. Actually, there's no opportunity legally for financial institutions to have a more detailed conversation among themselves as to any suspicious activities that they've identified.
I'm wondering how you would feel about transforming FINTRAC's one-way relationship into more of a dynamic dialogue with financial institutions.