Thank you very much, Chair, and thank you all, members.
I realize it was a very eventful question period, so I appreciate everyone returning here to deal with the issue at hand. Just because some time has passed, I wanted to recap a couple of the core issues that were underscoring my intervention on this, specifically referring to the amendment proposed by Madame DeBellefeuille.
Her amendment I believe deals with some of the issues I was getting at, but in doing so, it exposes one of the core issues that Conservatives have raised with Bill C-2 and now Bill C-12, which is the lack of consideration for the full scope of authority and power that the government is trying to grant the CBSA in some contexts and other agencies in others.
When I was referring to the initial clause 4 of the bill, which refers to CBSA officers having access to transportation and warehouses and being able to search and open packages and all of these things, I mentioned dropshipping, which was just one example of a space that we've seen a bit of a resurgence in.
People have decided to take it upon themselves to run, in some cases, home-based operations for importing and exporting. The amendment proposed by Madame DeBellefeuille specifically looks at a “dwelling-house”. It actually considers this and exposes what I believe is a core issue with the initial legislation. It identifies, the way the bill is currently worded, that if someone is exporting something from their own home, government would be able to go in and, without a warrant, open up doors, open up the medicine cabinet and potentially look at telephones and computers and the contents thereof.
I would like to have some context on this from our experts here.
Regarding the section of the bill we're dealing with here, which is clause 4, when would this be activated? What would be required for these measures to be activated under proposed sections 97.01 and 97.02?