Thank you, Mr. Chair.
First, I want to thank Mr. Rajotte for this bill. As short as it is, I think it's excellent.
I'd like to tell you about a problem we're dealing with. In Quebec, private companies gather personal information. After obtaining it, those companies transfer it to other companies, to companies in Ontario, among others. In the case I'm going to discuss, the information was forwarded to Houston, Texas, where there's a major information centre.
If I file a credit application, for example, I realize that my personal information, obtained from a third party, is in the hands of a company that is not under the jurisdiction of my province. In Houston, American laws are in effect.
The Ontario company that issues my credit card, MBNA, for example, which many of us are familiar with, obtains information from Houston. I can't solve the problem at the provincial level. However, the amendment that you want to make to the Criminal Code would enable me to file a complaint in the event my personal information was stolen or someone obtained that information through a third party and that caused me harm. From what I've understood, this amendment, as minor as it is, would mean that, under the Criminal Code, it would be possible to seek this remedy in the 10 provinces and three territories of Canada.
Paul Szabo talked about the people who were the victims of an identity theft on October 25, 2006. I was the victim of that kind of theft, and I can tell you that it's hard to recover from even 10 years later. Personal information associated with my name went to Houston. In Houston, it was transferred to credit companies. Even today, when I want to get a credit card, it states that Daniel Petit went bankrupt. However, I'm a lawyer and I can't go bankrupt. False information was forwarded. My identity was stolen. Process servers even came to my home to serve me with documents concerning civil proceedings with which I had nothing to do.
I lived through that situation, and it's really sad. Ten years later, I'm still on file at Air Canada. There are problems with a certain Daniel Petit, but it isn't me. It's a dangerous situation. As short as it is, this bill is excellent. If it had been in effect at the time, I could have instituted criminal proceedings against the companies and had my identity restored, which I was unable to do.
I've told you about my case. When you thought of this bill, did you think of that? All the provinces are separate from on another, and the Criminal Code is the only act that applies from east to west, across the country. Did you think about the fact that, for me, the Criminal Code would have been the best tool?