Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to speak today on Bill C-6, the privacy in electronic commerce bill.
The Reform Party supports the thrust of the bill, but we had a couple of concerns which we put forward in the form of amendments. Had the government seen fit to adopt these amendments they would have strengthened the bill. However, the government chose not to adopt them. One of the reasons we put these amendments forward was the importance they had to social concerns, particularly in health care and welfare.
As it stands, this bill the government has put forth really is comprised of two bills. One deals with electronic commerce which we ardently support. The Reform Party recognizes that the government unfortunately has failed to support our business sector in the world of electronic commerce. Our e-commerce business is falling far behind that of our colleagues to the south. The government needs to do much more to give business the ability and power to compete internationally in the global e-commerce market. We support the parts of the bill that deal with electronic commerce.
We wanted to strengthen the first part of the bill that deals with privacy. There is a need to deal with the privacy aspects of the bill, in particular the aspect that deals with health care issues. The bill does not do that at all. In the coming era of e-commerce, globalization and sharing of information by electronic means, it will become increasingly important for the government to introduce legislation that protects individuals and records concerning them, particularly in health care issues. Privacy in this area is a right of Canadians. Unfortunately that is lacking in the bill. We put forth amendments to deal with that.