Mr. Speaker, I credit my colleague from Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough for the comprehensive nature of his discourse. There simply could be no questions after such a detailed and articulate speech.
It is with pleasure today that I rise to speak to Bill S-16. The money laundering issue is of huge importance to Canada. Earlier today I spoke in the House on corporate governance issues. It is extraordinarily important to put in place procedures, agencies and structures to deal with corporate governance and money laundering issues, issues which are increasingly global and are forcing governments to be vigilant if they wish to maintain international credibility.
The estimates of money laundering are difficult to get a handle on. In Canada some estimates are as low as $5 billion per year and some are as high as $20 billion per year. That variance alone speaks to the nature of the problem. We do not know the full depth and breadth of the issue in Canada but we know we had better get a handle on it soon. We hope this initiative will help us do that.
I have spoken of previous incarnations of the legislation and of my concerns with them. I still have not seen a commitment by the government to provide the resources to enable the agency to do its work. I am very concerned about that.
The member for Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough, our justice critic, has spoken about the urgent situation of underfunding and the resource starved RCMP. With the money laundering agency we could see the same types of issues.
Organized crime networks today use sophisticated technologies and have almost unlimited global resources. We must provide the new agency the resources to be successful in the fight against money laundering. I have significant concerns in that regard, particularly given the sophistication of financial instruments today. There was a time when derivatives were considered sophisticated financial instruments but we have gone far beyond that.
A message was delivered by the Usher of the Black Rod as follows:
Mr. Speaker, The Honourable Deputy to the Governor General desires the immediate attendance of this honourable House in the chamber of the honourable the Senate.
Accordingly, the Speaker with the House went up to the Senate chamber.
And being returned: