Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak on this bill. I must start off by saying that I applaud this initiative on the part of my colleague and can see the good intentions behind it. I do, however, also believe, having seen the criticisms of it, that it contains certain weaknesses which I would like to point out. At the same time, I would like to review the entire matter, propose some potential solutions, and point out why it will be very difficult to proceed with such a bill.
As I have said, this is a well intentioned bill but one with a number of weaknesses which have already been described by a number of my party colleagues and by at least one member of the opposition.
I believe that if we were to send this bill to committee and try to correct it we might lose some significant time trying to redirect an approach which some people would believe is too narrow to address all of the concerns Canadians continue to express about the protection of their privacy. That is not for me to decide by myself. Let me share with the House why.
Every time we open a newspaper we see another story about the abuse of personal information with the potential that new technology has to invade our privacy and provide surveillance of our every movement. Even the chairman of Microsoft, Bill Gates, in an article which appeared in the Ottawa Sun on September 20 of this year pointed out the need for government action and indeed legislation to protect privacy in the face of new technologies which he would be well placed to understand.
He used the example of software programs which would replace human travel agents and track customers' tastes and preferences to give the best possible service.
He states in the last two paragraphs of that article: "The marketplace may be able to resolve some of these issues. For example, customers may learn to avoid travel agencies that don't share personal profiles, or that share them too freely".
"But the marketplace won't resolve every privacy issue. Neither will technology. What's needed is a great deal of unrushed debate, leading to intelligent public policies".
I doubt that these new automated travel agents would be covered by Bill C-315 and we need to consider how serious a problem this might be.
I applaud the hon. member for bringing the issue of privacy protection to the attention of Parliament. I believe that he has done what he ought to do. I believe that we could follow Mr. Gates' advice and start a process of unrushed debate leading to intelligent, profound public discussion on a policy that will meet the needs of today's society, not necessarily by accepting this bill and fixing it but by building on the work that has been done in Canada where we have among other initiatives the first data protection legislation in North America to cover the private sector. I refer to Bill 68 in the province of Quebec.
We need a far more comprehensive approach to these problems. The government has been doing the groundwork necessary to provide greater privacy protection. I would like to talk a bit about
this work and about a better way perhaps to address the hon. member's concerns.
My first point is that the Canadian Standards Association model privacy code provides a basis for a broad based approach to privacy protection.
The Information Highway Advisory Council has recommended to the government that it bring in flexible framework legislation based on this code and that it work with the provinces to find a way to get a standard of fair information practices incorporated in the areas where it does not have jurisdiction.
On October 3 the Canadian Direct Marketing Association echoed this, calling on my colleague, the Minister of Industry, as minister responsible for consumer affairs, to table framework privacy legislation in the House of Commons. The CDMA has been a key player in the development of this national standard for the protection of privacy under the aegis of the Canadian Standards Association. I applaud not only its efforts in helping to develop this code but the leadership that it has shown in recognizing the merits of the legislation.
The House will recognize that it is not often that industry calls for more legislation. I think this action underlines the importance of privacy in the minds of consumers and the need for us to look at it carefully in all of its aspects. In particular, I believe that we must respect both the rights of the citizen and the information needs of industry when we think of legislation.
There are legitimate needs for personal information gathering in each sector. Banks need to gather information to assess credit risk, medical researchers need to conduct long term health studies to determine the effects of drugs, environmental concerns and health practices. Direct marketers do not want to send special offers for lawn mowers to folks who live in apartment buildings. Market research helps us as a society to tailor product innovations to the needs of consumers. These are good uses of personal information and we do not want to shut down the use of personal information.
Bill C-315 could shut down federally incorporated businesses doing direct marketing through the use of lists because while the bill speaks of obtaining the consent of each consumer, which sounds to be a reasonable enough option, the administrative burden and liability involved in this process would cause businesses to drop the activity altogether in a number of cases.
This may or may not be the goal of the hon. member but I believe both consumers and Canadian business deserve a more careful approach to the problem and one in which they can actually participate.
The Information Highway Advisory Council made a number of other recommendations concerning the protection of personal information, including the use of technologies which protect privacy. It called for the banning of scanning devices which monitor cellular transmissions. It called on the federal government to form a federal-provincial-territorial working group to start a dialogue about some of these important issues and work together for harmonized solutions. It called for the CSA to continue its work and for the consensus group which crafted the model privacy code to work together to develop meaningful oversight.
These are all thoughtful suggestions from a group of experts who took the time to study the issue in some significant depth. I believe that we should wait for the government response to these recommendations before we jump the gun and attempt to start legislating privacy protection.
As I come to the end of my remarks, I would like to share with the House a letter which was given to me that I think speaks to the issue. It is as follows:
Please share the following message with government MPs who will be speaking today on Bill C-315.
Members of the Canadian Direct Marketing Association agree that a legislated comprehensive set of privacy principles is needed to guide business in their activities to respect the rights of the individual. There is an excellent model to accomplish this in the 10 principles of the new code for the protection of personal information of the Canadian Standards Association.
The current bill before Parliament, Bill C-315, while formatted with the best of intentions, is so fundamentally flawed that it cannot be saved by any amendments. The bill would not accomplish the fundamental purpose of protecting personal privacy; would seriously limit an individuals' freedom of choice and would be an unnecessary and destructive interference in the marketplace.
CDMA is very concerned that if this bill is allowed to proceed to committee, the consensus among business, consumer groups and government which produced the CSA code after two years of hard work and compromise, will entirely collapse.
It is signed, John Gustavson, President and Chief Executive Officer.
It is up to the members now to decide how to proceed.