Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I don't think I'll take 10 minutes.
I have appeared on this question several times in the past few years. I've been fairly outspoken about the problem. I'm very pleased to see that the government is taking action on it today.
Polling conducted by my office this year has revealed that one in six Canadians has experienced some form of identity theft. Over 90% of Canadians are concerned about this issue of identify theft.
As you know, identify theft is a broad term that is often used to describe a wide range of behaviour. It can include credit card fraud, it often involves pretexting--pretending to be someone else in order to purchase goods or services or obtain that person's personal information. There are also more sophisticated techniques such as skimming, which involves stealing personal information from the magnetic strips of debit and credit cards through the use of small electronic devices.
I'm sure everyone here has received numerous phishing e-mails from what appear to be reputable organizations such as banks and caisses populaires--even the Government of Canada was a victim of phishing last year--asking us to verify our account information or provide personal information to the sender.
As technology evolves, identity thieves are constantly looking for new ways to obtain personal information. Just last month a man who has been called the world's most prolific identity thief pleaded guilty in Florida to stealing tens of millions of credit and debit card records by identifying and exploiting weaknesses in retailers' wireless networks.
Identity thieves then use this personal information to withdraw money from bank accounts, obtain loans or credit cards, obtain government benefits and even take out mortgages.
We often talk about identity theft in terms of the financial cost and while victims of identity theft may suffer significant financial loss, they are also likely to feel that their privacy has been invaded.
The lessons of the past few years teach us that stronger protections are needed if privacy is to have any meaning at all in the face of contemporary challenges. Bill S-4 is a significant step in the right direction. However, it should form part of a broader-based strategy to address identity theft and identity fraud.
The recent introduction of anti-spam legislation is also an important contribution to this process. The proposed Electronic Commerce Protection Act prohibits the sending of unsolicited commercial electronic messages without consent. It includes targeted provisions against phishing and spyware, and it provides a private right of action against spammers. The Act also sets out a coordinated approach to enforcement that allows for co-operation and information sharing with foreign authorities.
So that's another piece of legislation that is already before this House.
I would like to see a similar coordinated approach to ID theft. We have the expertise and the resources. There is the PhoneBusters anti-fraud call centre operated by the RCMP, the Competition Bureau, and the Ontario Provincial Police. There are excellent resources on identity theft on the Safe Canada website set up by Public Safety Canada. Now we really need the police and regulators, the public and private sectors, and federal and provincial officials to work together.
In our recommendations for the reform of the Privacy Act we have asked for stronger regulation, including better security safeguards, and we continue to believe that broader access to the courts is important for Canadians. In the review of our private sector legislation, PIPEDA, we have similarly recommended changes that would allow us to better regulate personal information handling practices, and we have called for mandatory breach notification for the private sector. These measures would empower Canadians to prevent identity theft and motivate companies and government organizations to properly safeguard personal information under their control.
Thank you once again, Mr. Chairman, for inviting me to speak on this very important issue. I will answer any questions as best I can.