Mr. Speaker, I have listened to the hon. member's speech, and congratulate him on his moderation and lucidity.
There is one doubt I have after hearing him, however, and I would like to hear his answer on this. He is in favour of protecting personal information, and so am I, but he seems to have qualified that protection somewhat. He also wants to see commerce protected. It is a balancing act that may be problematical.
There is one practice we see regularly. A person buys a car at the local dealer, giving his social insurance number and a whole lot of other details. Suddenly, he finds himself the target of mail solicitation for all manner of products. Until quite recently, I thought the dealer one had done business with gave that information to others, but no. He sold them to companies specializing in this type of mail or phone soliciting.
I would like to know whether the bill we are discussing this morning contains a ban on the selling of information which is no longer confidential because one has had to disclose it when preparing to enter into a legal transaction, a purchase or sale contract, and so on. I do not consider this to be in the public domain, but neither is it really personal any more, once the information has been disclosed.
Does the bill forbid businesses from selling this type of information? I believe that this is the point that will make or break this bill, if it is not addressed specifically. I would like the hon. member to clarify this.