Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that.
I'm not suggesting that by inserting the new offences under Bill C-8 into the Criminal Code we've reduced the threshold for obtaining a wiretap, but what we've done is insert an offence that is at this point still vague. It could, on my reading, and also that of a number of lawyers who would like to have testified to the committee—taking Ms. Charlton's point—but weren't invited.
In particular I've been in touch with Howard Knopf of Perley-Robertson. He was involved as counsel in at least part of the Laurier Office Mart case, where a very minor offence, something like 332 dollars' worth of photocopying, ended in a costly court battle, particularly costly to the small family business that was involved.
Those kinds of offences could be caught under this provision to allow wiretapping.
I'd further submit that because government amendment G-7 has changed the threshold of mens rea to make it clearer that a person—and I think it was a good amendment. I thank the government members for bringing in G-7. But with the provision of G-7, to make it clear that a person actually has to have known that what they were doing was an offence, as opposed to knowing the particular sections of the act, and so on, we've reduced the threshold of mens rea. It even reduces further the need to treat this as a proper case for needing the investigative tool of wiretapping.
You would think English wasn't my first language, Mr. Chair.
I am a bit tired.
That said, I think this provision is one too many.
We don't need it. It inserts wiretapping opportunities where law enforcement won't need it, and the nature of offences could include very trivial offences, such as in the Laurier Office Mart case.