Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member opposite for his question and his intervention. I certainly acknowledge his similar interest in matters of justice and policing around the country. As a former police officer I am sure he appreciates the incredible pressures that frontline police officers and those who specialize in areas such as organized crime are faced with on a daily basis.
I also want to acknowledge his commentary with respect to the usefulness of the bill. We in the Progressive Conservative Party applaud this government initiative. In fact, it is a continuation of a bill that we put in place when we were in government in 1991. I do not want to get into a partisan rant, but we have seen similar instances where the current government was not so complimentary of the Progressive Conservative government of the day and absolutely castigated the government for things such as free trade and the GST, but then, similarly, when in office, enhanced, expanded, embraced and took credit for bills and legislation put in place by the Progressive Conservative government. We will not follow that path. We will acknowledge that the Liberal government has done the right thing by continuing to move in the right direction, which was started by a Progressive Conservative government.
To address his specific question, this legislation and the setting up of this centre will very much put in place a process that will allow us to embark on the further information sharing that the hon. member referred to, the ability to see what other countries are doing, in particular the United States, and to draw on the best minds, the best personnel and the best intelligence that is available to see that we address this very serious global problem to which he referred quite correctly.
That and recruiting individuals from the country, keeping our very best and brightest here, and offering them opportunities in this area is another suggestion that I have as to how we can continue to fight this problem and enhance our ability to guard against this type of criminal activity that is becoming very much a global problem.
I would suggest, and he alluded to it in his question, that it has a great deal to do with the personnel and the intellectual property that we have to preserve and enhance in the country in our attempt to address what is a wonderful opportunity when it comes to technology and the Internet and the use of global communication, but it is also something that can leave us very vulnerable if we are not prepared to put in place the safeguards.
The centre can be a centre of excellence. It can be a great opportunity for those trained in this capacity, and hopefully we will, and I have every confidence that we will, continue to produce very bright, intelligent people who will be able to help us in this task.