Madam Speaker, the bill already requires that the director of the anti-money laundering centre submit an annual report to the minister and that the minister table a copy of the report in each House of parliament. This is a fundamentally important accountability measure in the bill.
In our view there was no need to add a provision that would require the centre's annual report to be reviewed by a committee of parliament. Parliamentary committees have the right to conduct such a review as they see fit. The motion would merely create a rigid procedure and timetable for parliamentary review without doing anything to strengthen the accountability of the centre.
With respect to Motion No. 9, we were prepared to accommodate the member for Sarnia—Lambton with an amendment that would strike out the words “and the operations of the centre”. Unfortunately we cannot support the subamendment by the member for Charlesbourg to replace the word “parliament” with “House of Commons”. Unfortunately, we also cannot support the motion by the member for Sarnia—Lambton because we cannot support the subamendment.
With respect to Motion No. 10, the Privacy Act authorizes the privacy commissioner to investigate the centre to ensure that the confidentiality of personal information is being properly protected. The proposed amendment would not therefore provide any additional safeguards. For this reason, I do not support the proposed amendments.
However, we do believe there is merit in having the director report in some fashion on the very important matter of confidentiality. That is why we accepted some revised language to Motion No. 8 which would call for the centre to describe its policies and practices as it relates to the privacy of information of Canadians.
Finally, with respect to Motion No. 11, I believe that the bill as currently drafted strikes the right balance by requiring that within five years of coming into force a committee of parliament review “the administration and operation of this act” and report to parliament. Clause 72 also explicitly requires that the committee's report to parliament include a statement of any changes to the act or its administration that the committee recommends.
The existing provision in the bill will ensure that parliament will re-examine this legislation carefully within five years with a view to considering possible changes to improve Canada's anti-money laundering regime. This is appropriate given the importance of this legislation.
I do not believe that anything would be gained by the amendment proposed by the member for Sarnia—Lambton to the five year review clause in this bill because the bill is already going to be reviewed by parliament within five years. I also cannot support the subamendment by the member for Charlesbourg to strike out the word “parliament”.