Evidence of meeting #27 for Finance in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was rcmp.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
James Maloney Liberal Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
Thank you.
I think you already addressed this earlier in response to Ms. Dzerowicz's question and maybe Mr. Lawrence's. With respect to this notion out there and in making sure that information is correct, there are stories that have been circulating about little old ladies who had their bank accounts frozen and they had only $50 in their bank account. The bank would use the validation process to make sure something like that didn't happen, I'm assuming.
General Counsel and Vice-President, Canadian Bankers Association
That would not even hit the radar. that's why it wouldn't happen.
If anyone has any question, they should contact their bank. That's not what would have happened. It would have been for something else. It would have been that, perhaps, they had gone over a certain limit, but it would not be because of the Emergencies Act.
Liberal
James Maloney Liberal Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
That's great. Thank you. That's why this discussion is so important. Sometimes, in the political climate, these things get inflated and distorted, so I appreciate that answer.
My last question, then, is this: Do you have information about how many of those 180 accounts were held by Canadian actors as opposed to actors outside of the country?
General Counsel and Vice-President, Canadian Bankers Association
I do not have that information.
Liberal
James Maloney Liberal Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON
Is that information you could obtain for the committee?
General Counsel and Vice-President, Canadian Bankers Association
That's something I could take away.
Liberal
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
You're right on time.
Thank you, MP Maloney.
Thank you for joining us.
Next is the Bloc and MP Ste-Marie for two and a half minutes.
Bloc
Gabriel Ste-Marie Bloc Joliette, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Kim Manchester, from the company ManchesterCF, said banks will likely keep tracking those individuals flagged by the RCMP and their names could end up on private-sector third-party databases that financial institutions rely on to fight money laundering and terrorist financing.
Ms. Mason, do you agree with this statement? What are your comments?
General Counsel and Vice-President, Canadian Bankers Association
I'm sorry, but could you repeat the question?
Bloc
Gabriel Ste-Marie Bloc Joliette, QC
I would like your reaction to a statement made by Kim Manchester, from the company ManchesterCF, who said that banks will likely keep tracking those individuals flagged by the RCMP and their names could end up on private-sector third-party databases that financial institutions rely on to fight money laundering and terrorist financing.
General Counsel and Vice-President, Canadian Bankers Association
Okay, that is similar to the question that was asked earlier, about the impact of someone's being identified by the RCMP. As I mentioned before, there would not be a blanket approach. Each organization would determine their risk assessment, as they always do, based on the specific individual. If any individual had any concern about their banking relationship, they should contact their financial institution, but there would not be a blanket approach.
Bloc
Gabriel Ste-Marie Bloc Joliette, QC
Some institutions could keep names that were flagged and lists could circulate. These concerns may therefore be well founded. Is this the case?
General Counsel and Vice-President, Canadian Bankers Association
I'm sorry, but when I say there wouldn't be a blanket approach, what I'm saying is that a bank wouldn't all of a sudden generate a list and say “Here are the lists that we've received”. It's no different from your learning that someone else had conducted an activity in your account. They risk-assess the accounts, as they do, and if they hear about that activity, they will assess each individual circumstance. It wouldn't be, “Oh, we're going to list all these people here and treat them a certain way”. It would be done on a customer-by-customer basis.
Bloc
Gabriel Ste-Marie Bloc Joliette, QC
Thank you.
The information will be saved, as you explained in your answer to Mr. Chambers.
I have no further questions.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
Thank you, MP Ste-Marie.
We are moving to the NDP and MP Blaikie for two and a half minutes.
NDP
Daniel Blaikie NDP Elmwood—Transcona, MB
Thank you.
I think one of the important tasks for this committee is going to be to try to make some recommendations to government about what it did that it perhaps should not have done, or how, if it does similar things in the future, it could do them better. I'm just wondering. As you have said many times, banks are customer-based organizations. This clearly was something that had an impact on some customers. I'm wondering if you have any recommendations that you want to offer to the committee for its consideration about what kind of supplementary direction government might provide or what else it might seek to include in a similar order, in order to have a better process in the event that something like this happens again.
General Counsel and Vice-President, Canadian Bankers Association
I would say pretty much that having had from the get-go the clarity we were getting in real time would be very helpful. First of all would be being able to assure our customers right away that the vast, vast, vast majority of them will not be impacted by this. I would say that, as with other things, when you're used to a process, then you know what to expect. In this case, it would have been helpful to have had that in advance.
NDP
Daniel Blaikie NDP Elmwood—Transcona, MB
Okay. Is there anything else you would put before the committee for its consideration?
General Counsel and Vice-President, Canadian Bankers Association
There is not at this time.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
Okay. Thank you.
We are moving to the Conservatives and MP Chambers.
You have the floor for five minutes.
Conservative
Adam Chambers Conservative Simcoe North, ON
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Perhaps I'll pick up where my colleague Mr. Blaikie finished. In terms of some of the information that you said would have been helpful for clarity at the beginning, are you talking about before the order is announced or just as you're leading up to the situation that there should be a little bit more back and forth between government and industry, or would you say that line of communication was open?