Madam Speaker, let me say at the outset that I am very much aware of the magnitude of the events that have led to the introduction of Bill C-36.
I was here when the House considered Bill C-95, which was brought about by the events that resulted in the death of Daniel Desrochers, a young boy from my riding of Hochelaga--Maisonneuve. Then there was Bill C-24, which is currently before the other House.
When I give speeches, I always start by saying that it is important to find the proper balance between the role of the state, which is to ensure public safety and security, especially when it comes to fighting organized crime or, as in this case, terrorism, and the most virulent forms of terrorism we have witnessed in September.
I still think that we need to balance the tools we give the state and its officers, including police officers, with the freedoms that are so dear to all of us.
I have been and still am under the impression that with the defunct Bill C-95 and with Bill C-24 we had managed to reach our goal. After a quick glance at Bill C-36, I am not so sure we can do it with this legislation.
As it stands today, if we were to have a vote at third reading to pass as is all the provisions introduced today, I would find it somewhat difficult to support the government. Why? The problem is not the goal, as I believe that everyone of us will agree with the principle that we must fight terrorism as it now exists.
When we talk about keeping terrorists out of Canada, when we are asked to provide the necessary tools to identify and prosecute people who carry out terrorist acts, I agree. When we are told that we must prevent the Canada-U.S. border from being held hostage by terrorists, I agree. When we are told we must work in co-operation with the international community to bring terrorists to justice, in particular to be tried by an international court, these are all goals that we fully support and for my part I support them, just as my Bloc Quebecois colleagues do.
The problem is that to know whether to reach such goals, which are not only laudable but our duty as parliamentarians, do we really need a two page long definition, like a Spanish inn where everyone and anyone can find something to his liking?
Let us look at the definition of a terrorist act, and I quote:
(b)—an act or omission, in or outside Canada—
So far so good. Then it states:
(A) —in whole or in part for a political, religious or ideological purpose, objective or cause—
This exposes the government to a lot of criticism. Then it states:
(B)...with the intention of intimidating the public, or a segment of the public, with regard to its security, including its economic security, or compelling a person, a government, or a domestic or international organization to do or to refrain from doing any act, whether the person, government or organization is inside or outside Canada.
This, I believe, might lead to excesses. A militant organization opposed to the status quo might be working to bring about changes for ideological reasons and one might consider that to be economically compelling. One might consider it to be compelling as far as the government structure is concerned.
It is not a definition that should automatically apply to non-terrorist organizations.
To keep it short, I think that in committee we will need to tighten the definition of terrorist activity or terrorist group.
The committee will also have to consider very seriously another matter of concern, which is the fact that the Attorney General of Canada, the Minister of Justice, might use information to build a case or to instruct her officers to act on her behalf without necessarily having to account for how she carries out her duties.
What this means is that the Attorney General of Canada or any of her officers could act in such a way that we would end up with no one being held accountable. Not only would no one account for their actions, but we would not be able to find out why they acted the way they did because that information would not be made available through access to information.
Another area of concern relates to the fact that in a piece of legislation as important as the one dealing with gangs and organized crime, the government found a way to use judicial authorizations in just about any circumstances, but it will not be able to do so in this case.
Since my time has expired, I will conclude by saying that I hope some serious work will be done in committee. I must say that we will have a number of criteria. For example, we hope that the legislation, once it is passed, will remain in force only for a specified period. That means that after three years it should not be simply reviewed and extended. We want parliamentarians to have the opportunity to vote on it again, because the time will have come to determine to what extent it has helped us meet our objectives.
I also want to caution the government against trying to fast track the process in a way that would give us only a few days to consider this bill in committee. I think that somewhere around Christmastime would be a decent target from a parliamentary point of view.