Mr. Speaker, I think we all want to make sure that the Criminal Code complies with the charter. The fact that the Supreme Court of Canada has given the government and the Minister of Justice a full year to try to make sure that it does puts a great burden on us as parliamentarians to ensure that any legislation we pass will survive a subsequent charter challenge, should it come to that.
I am concerned because paragraph 90 of the Supreme Court of Canada decision refers favourably to the view of Mr. Justice Dambrot in the Riley case that “a legislative reporting requirement such as s. 195 that does not provide for active oversight of wiretapping generally, far less any particular use of the wiretap provisions, cannot be a constitutional requirement of a reasonable wiretap power...”.
I am wondering if the bill is likely to fail another charter challenge. In the opinion of the member for Winnipeg North, does it need an amendment to provide some active oversight of wiretapping more generally, taking the view of the Supreme Court?