Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Minister.
Because the NDP takes a somewhat different position on this, I'm going to use about a minute of my seven minutes to put some context around that. I think the minister knows that the NDP is opposed to this legislation. We think terrorism and espionage and organized crime are very serious matters that should be dealt with under the Criminal Code of Canada. We don't necessarily think Canadians are safer when people who are a threat to our system are simply made to leave the country. We do have a very good justice system here in our country. So we believe that anyone who's responsible for a criminal act should be charged under the Criminal Code, regardless of their status in Canada.
We are concerned that under these circumstances the security certificate process proposed in Bill C-3 undermines some fundamental values in our justice system. Even with the provision for a special advocate—and I know we will talk more about that—security certificates, we still think, violate certain civil liberties that are important to any democracy.
So in light of those objections, I'd like to explore just a bit with the minister some questions that I might have, and I thank you for answering those.
If a foreign national or permanent resident is suspected of terrorist activities, they are detained, and may appeal--correctly--and perhaps then be deported as the next possible step under the security certificate process. What happens if a Canadian citizen is charged with the same crime? Would they then be arrested, charged, tried, and punished? So why are there two separate processes?
Secondly, when a permanent resident or a foreign national is deemed to be a threat in Canada and is deported back to their own country, what happens to them when they arrive in their own country? Are they free, then, to go back to organizing all of those things that we were worried they would organize here? Or are they under some kind of penalty when they return?