Thank you. I appreciate your being here today.
Obviously privacy issues are very important; privacy is one of the important rights that we as Canadians enjoy. Of course, we have to balance this right with others, such as the right to safety and security. I'm sure you're well aware of that. I appreciate the detail and the thought you've put into some of the recommendations you've brought forward to us today.
Of course, when we look at recommendations such as these, we always have to be mindful of the costs involved. When I say that, I talk about not only financial and logistical costs, but also the opportunity cost. As an example, for every minute that the RCMP spends on paperwork or ensuring that we're not unduly invading anyone's privacy, there is an opportunity cost to it; it gives away some of their time that could be spent investigating. We always have to be mindful to make sure we find the right balance.
That's where I want to go with my questions to you. I'm sure someone who has put as much thought and detail into recommendations as you has certainly thought about those logistics and the costs, including opportunity costs, involved.
I will point to just a few of the recommendations in your report: talking about requiring within security agencies enhanced training around the theory and practice of privacy; appointing chief privacy officers across government; providing the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP with the resources required to deal with privacy issues; talking about the Treasury Board and ministers issuing new policy requirements for their departments, especially around thorough privacy impact assessments; talking about increasing the resources of committees such as this one and the Senate committee. These things all have costs, be they financial costs or opportunity costs.
I'm wondering how much thought you have put into what kind of new resources would be required to implement these recommendations and how much these recommendations would cost, and whether you have thought about their implications in terms of balancing privacy with other activities that these bodies and agencies can and should be doing as well. Give me a bit of a sense as to what you see the cost here being, in terms of resources, finances, and also opportunity costs.