Thank you for that, Mr. Rankin. I understand where Mr. MacGregor is coming from in putting this forward, and your intervention is helpful. I agree that the witness did testify to a concern regarding this privacy issue.
The issue I have with this type of clause in the Criminal Code is, first of all, the term “contrary to the best interests of the offender”. You say that this may be something in the Privacy Act, but I don't know if it's known anywhere in the Criminal Code. I worry that it would add an extra element of difficulty for a judge to know exactly what his or her obligation is in determining what the best interests of the offender are. What is the scope of that? Does the judge have to determine whether it would be in their best interests on anything to do with the sentencing, or with other privacy issues, or related to employment? I just worry that it is not a term that's known elsewhere in the Criminal Code, and it could cause considerable confusion for the bench in applying it.
As well, the privacy issue as determined means that, if a sentencing judge is going to be using the information from the report in a sentencing decision, that information is obviously going to be indicated, either orally or in writing, in the decision on the sentencing hearing. Therefore, it would become public in any event.
I get where this is coming from. I understand that there may be a concern there, but I think that this amendment would actually present other problems and unforeseen consequences that we could avoid by not accepting it. That's why I will be voting against the motion.