I see that Mr. Chénier wants to say something. I will give him a chance to say a few words because he suggested to Ms. Kim that this information could even end up in the hands of members of Parliament.
We have a fine example. Mr. Lukiwski, who is the Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government, told us it would be a good idea to include date of birth on the lists, but the bureaucrats do not feel the same way. We were elected by the public in order to represent them and regardless of what these people might think, we are the ones who pass the legislation.
I do not want to start a war with the bureaucrats, but I am sorry, it is the representatives duly elected by the public who decide. If we think it makes sense to include date of birth and, Mr. Lukiwski, if you agree with us, vote with us. You are welcome to do so. You'll see, it doesn't hurt.
Mr. Chénier suggested that even members of Parliament could get this information. I hope he knows that even if we have a lot of identifiable personal information, we are bound by law not to use it unduly.
I am a member of the Quebec bar and there is an error in my name on the roll of the ordre. It is odd, but I receive offers to subscribe to magazines such as L'actualité and Maclean's. Am I to understand that the Barreau du Québec sold its list of members? Maybe I should look into that. We are bound to obey the law.
I will give you an example. Every month we receive a diskette from Citizenship and Immigration Canada containing the list of new arrivals, or new Canadians, in our riding. I use this list to send a letter welcoming each of them to my riding and congratulating them on joining Quebec society. I use this list, but I am not about to give it to the local furniture store and say these people just arrived in Canada, probably by boat—boat people—now go sell them some furniture. I have to obey the law. We have all kinds of identifiable personal information.
Do not make members of Parliament out to be worse than they are.