Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise today to discuss Bill C-54 at report stage.
I worked quite closely with members of the industry committee on this bill. My colleague from Mercier and other Bloc members have put forward a number of amendments, some of which we have tried to take seriously. I have had much discussion with the member for Mercier. I know we differ on this bill in its scope when it comes to the issue of provincial legislation on privacy and the role of the federal government in implementing some sort of privacy protection when it comes to the use of sensitive documents on the Internet and various other forms of transactions in the whole area of electronic commerce.
It will not come as a surprise to my Bloc colleagues that even though there are many issues I share with them when it comes to provincial responsibilities and defending the right of provinces to develop their own legislation in domains that are strictly provincial, there are certain things I believe need to be in the national interest, especially when they go beyond provincial boundaries or national boundaries as in the case of Bill C-54. This bill is almost global in its scope. That is something we have to take into consideration when dealing with Bill C-54.
The bill itself has provisions to deal with provinces that want to develop their own regulations when it comes to privacy legislation. I differ with my colleague from Mercier and the Bloc when it comes to this legislation. Normally I would work toward protecting the interests of provincial legislation and provincial responsibilities.
Specifically with Bill C-54 we are dealing with a bill which creates a legal and regulatory framework that will be applied to the commercial use of sensitive and private information in all areas of business. Reform supports this initiative to protect privacy.
When we look at the evolution of this particular industry, and I brought this up during our discussions in committee, we can see that in Internet commerce or specifically electronic commerce a lot of the growth has taken place with very little interference from the government. Why do we need to create legislation if many companies engaging in electronic commerce are taking the issue of security very seriously? Obviously that is happening because many people who are using these services feel confident in providing personal information on the Internet for various services.
With that comes the issue of sensitive documents aside from commercial activity on the Internet or electronic commerce transactions. The sensitive issue of private information is something the Reform Party takes very seriously. We believe in free markets. We believe in businesses taking the time to develop interests and direction that is positive to their own services and products but which also respects the privacy of consumers. The one area we identify as a potential concern is that of sensitive documents.
In particular, aside from the first set of amendments in Group No. 1 that we are currently discussing, I have introduced amendments on behalf of a number of organizations which we will be discussing in Group No. 2 that specifically pertain to health issues and the issues of privacy in health. That is an area in Bill C-54 that needs to be addressed and needs to be strengthened.
We do not often hear the Reform Party talking about private lives, but many interest groups, especially from medical and dental associations, are very concerned about the impact Bill C-54 will have on the issue of health privacy, health records, and so on.
I will touch on some of the amendments briefly even though I know Group No. 1 is specifically Bloc amendments. If we want to ensure that the legislation covers all the areas of concern of Canadians, there must be clear protection against the use of personal health information collected for a purpose different from the original purpose for which consent was given. In a nutshell that is what the bill comes down.
When we look at what electronic commerce is trying to achieve in this day and age, we see that it is often dealing with sensitive information or commercial information. I will take a moment to distinguish between those two points.
In terms of commercial information on the Internet, when one orders catalogues from department stores or certain services or products from various companies, quite often information is traded, such as a Visa number or financial information.
Often these companies take this information very seriously and it is confidential to their own records. Aside from that obviously issues arise where privacy needs to be protected, specifically the issue of health. The purpose of consent is something the bill addresses. We addressed it in committee and we are addressing it currently, especially when it pertains to the health amendments I have introduced.
The issue of consent needs to be looked at. For instance, in the industry committee I addressed the issue of how consent can sometimes go too far and almost restrict the ability of companies to be able to develop products and services in electronic commerce.
On the flip side, when it comes to sensitive information, the issue of consent can sometimes not go far enough in terms of private records of health and various other forms of information that pertain to a person's privacy. This is something we need to discuss and I will be discussing it even further in the Group No. 2 amendments.
The Reform Party will be supporting this legislation and opposing the Bloc amendments. When it comes to the Bloc's concerns, the difficulty with provincial privacy protection legislation, and the fact that this is obviously more global and national in scope, there is something within the legislation which allows provinces to develop their own privacy protection legislation if they wish. That should be complementary to the national view or the global scope of the bill.
A two year phase-in in the timetable is given to provinces that do not have comparable legislation and would fall under federal legislation. Currently only Quebec has comprehensive privacy protection. Other provinces have determined that they neither have the resources nor the inclination to create their own provincial privacy protection legislation and preferred to be included under the broad federal legislation.
The Bloc would prefer that we have a total exemption for every province that creates its only privacy legislation. What we want to address in the Group No. 1 amendments is that within the legislation for once we see the government realizing the need to take a complementary view when it comes to privacy protection.
It is almost encouraging the provinces to develop their own legislation if they see fit in order to complement what is being done on the federal level. In many cases, such as in the province of Alberta and other provinces, privacy is taken very seriously.
In the case of Bill C-54 many people realize that it would cause unnecessary duplication to have separate privacy legislation applying strictly to provinces because transfer of information in this day and age goes well beyond the boundaries of provinces and territories and is almost on a global basis, as I mentioned earlier.
This is where we differ. Specifically we would like to make sure the government does not get too heavy handed when it comes to the commercial side of the bill. As I touched on earlier, currently much of the commerce on Internet has grown without regulation, with very little government intervention, and has been very positive. I do not have the figures off the top of my head, but I know we are talking about a billion dollars worth of business being done on the Internet.
On the other hand there is definitely room to strengthen the bill when it comes to the protection of health information. My hon. colleague from Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca touched on the medical issues. In the Group No. 2 amendments I will address those issues in more detail.