Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Champlain for his question.
If the bill before us were passed, there would be the whole whistle blower aspect. It would be interesting, for instance, if someone on the board of a company like CSL were to inform us of an insider trading offence. That might be important. As we speak, no one can do such a thing because there is no protection in place. Perhaps this bill will make it possible.
When I speak of tax fraud, there are many ways of committing this. In the bill of concern to us here, there is the whole issue of insider trading. There are many other ways, though, but I will not go into them here.
As for insider trading, I think it is indeed important for workers everywhere to know there are laws to protect them, to reassure them, when part of their salaries is invested in a pension fund.
If they know that governments have made a commitment and are on top of the situation, they will be reassured. We must ensure that there are no more horror stories like the one in my own riding, at Singer in Saint-Jean. For years the government was in charge. The federal government was the trustee of their pension fund, and unbeknownst to the workers, allowed the employer a break from contributions. Thanks to that contribution holiday, people are now receiving pensions of $20 a month.
I feel that the government has a responsibility. This certainly looks good, but once again we are obliged to object to the bill because of its interference in areas of provincial jurisdiction. My colleague from Champlain has already said so. At the time, we had no idea they wanted to create a Canadian securities agency with control over securities in Quebec and in the other provinces.
Today we can see the direction in which the government is headed. Nation building has been going on for a long time. One need only look at the interference in health, education, justice, and now securities, all of which fall under Quebec's jurisdiction. In light of all these inconsistencies from government, along with its insistence on interfering in areas under Quebec's jurisdiction, we must oppose this bill.
As for Canada Steamship Lines, I hope that we will one day hear from some executive secretary who knows she is now protected. It would be most fascinating to learn that the company president had committed an insider trading offence. For the moment we do not know that, so we have to give him the benefit of the doubt.