Madam Speaker, this grouping of amendments are intended to strengthen the safeguards against misuse and abuse of DNA profiles stored in the databank.
My amendment is Motion No. 2, the (a) portion of which appears to already be accepted as it is provided in the act. I will move on to the other section. I would propose that we amend the principles of the act by placing in the following, which would be an addition to section 4:
(c) because of the personal information that can be gathered through the use of DNA profiles, it is the role of the government through public agencies, to perform the tasks set out in this act.
I proposed the amendment because we have seen in the last eight or nine years tremendous privatization by both this government and the government prior to it. Crown corporations or government agencies which were normally perceived to be within the realm of government because they performed important public functions were given to the private sector in a fiscally conservative move.
My concern is that we are setting up an agency under the RCMP that can take these DNA samples and record them. None of us has a crystal ball. None of us can be sure whether in the future either this government or another government might think the cost of maintaining a DNA databank—not the taking of the sample but the keeping of the information—is too expensive. We do not know when another fiscal conservative wave will sweep over the House—