Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate the member for the wonderful job she has been doing representing the justice file in this country and for helping to build a progressive, responsible justice policy for us. I was going to joke and say that every time I rise in the House, I learn something new too, often by accident.
My hon. friend raises the issue of what the OECD has said. Here is what the Canadian Chamber of Commerce Canadian Intellectual Property Council has said:
...the Canadian system has no tools to track and report on the instances of counterfeiting that are actually detected in this country. According to European Commission regulation 1891/2004, customs authorities in all EU member states are obliged to report statistics on customs seizures.... the CBSA does not have a mandate for reporting...crimes at the border....
In other words, the position of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce is that the CBSA, in addition to the RCMP, should and must include the combatting of intellectual property crime as part of its mandate. I think that is a very wise suggestion by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, and I would urge the government to pay attention to that, because the New Democrats will certainly be pushing for that kind of data collection.
Before I sit down, I would say that we often hear politicians talk about red tape and creating regulations. Certainly there are cases when there are regulations that are unnecessary that ought to be reviewed, but regulation is also at the heart of enforcing good policy. The best policy in the world is not worth much if we do not have the resources to actually meaningfully track and deal with the problems. That is the difference between wise regulation, effective regulation, and red tape. I urge all members of the House not to lose sight of that distinction.