Thank you, Mr. Chair.
This is in my opinion no doubt the most important amendment I will move today. In fact, this amendment ensures greater transparency. If there have to be exceptions in PIPEDA with regard to the sharing of information without consent, I think it would be essential that there be transparency and that there be a mechanism so that Canadians know how often this happens.
The acting Privacy Commissioner said that 1.2 million requests were submitted to organizations for personal information without consent and without warrants. I know that people are worried because there are gaps and there has been abuse. That is very clear. The acting commissioner said that there was a lack of transparency and that there were no means to oblige the organizations to divulge this information. Even government agencies are not obliged to reveal how often these requests are submitted to them. We must thus ensure that there is no abuse. I think this is primordial.
The amendment specifically asks that a report be published on this. The point is not necessarily to inform individuals, but we can kill two birds with one stone because we will in this way publicly divulge how often this has occurred. I think this is what Canadians are asking for. It is in my opinion very important that this amendment be brought forward today so that the privacy of Canadians will be respected.