Thank you, Minister and officials.
First, I would like to underscore the relevance of the introduction of this bill, because it responds to the emergence of a major problem both here in Canada and elsewhere. As the minister so aptly put it, different types of criminals have a hand in identity theft, including organized crime networks. Currently, organized crime networks from Ukraine, Russia and other countries have taken over the identity theft network here, in Montreal and Vancouver.
Given the international dimension that identity theft has taken on, is the federal government cooperating with other countries to combat this problem? To what extent does Bill C-27 deal with the transcontinental nature of identity theft? Could the minister give me an answer?