Mr. Speaker, I am happy this morning to be here to add my comments to what I think is a really important piece of legislation for our country.
I speak in strong support of Bill C-22. It is a piece of legislation that modernizes Canada's lawful access framework so our police and national security agencies can do their jobs effectively in a digital world, which is what we are clearly all living in, while fully respecting Canadians' charter rights and privacy.
It is extremely important to be able to craft legislation that meets the very basics that are important to all of us when it comes to our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and that we move forward in that direction in a positive way in crafting this piece of legislation.
The context of why this bill is necessary is that crime has changed. I think we are all seeing it in our communities, streets, phones and computers. Things have changed immensely on how crime is delivered. It is not just, I say this randomly, shooting someone. It is now accessing someone's private details and so many other things that need new legislation to keep up with the change in criminal activity.
We have been hearing about a lot of effort going into dealing with organized crime. Whether we are talking about B.C. or Brampton, Ontario, organized crime has infiltrated a tremendous number of areas in our country and the laws we were able to use previously do not meet the requirements for our police officers and RCMP officers today.
Child exploitation is another extremely important issue that is happening. When we ask the police to do their job, it is very difficult for them to do it with their hands handcuffed behind their backs to get the access that they need to be able to make a case and find out who the guilty parties are. Bill C-22 would help with that.
Foreign interference, extortion, terrorism and auto theft are also things that Bill C-22 would help.
We hear a lot about financial crimes in our day-to-day activity with our constituents and with others, and the different ways that the criminal element is able to access things. They increasingly operate online, using encrypted platforms and move data across borders in seconds, not minutes, yet Canada's lawful access laws were largely written for a pre-smart phone, pre-cloud era. When we talk to some seniors, in particular, they know very little about this, yet it is happening in their own instruments.
It is very difficult for police to get access. Investigations can stall because police cannot determine which service provider holds the relevant data. Is it an Apple? Is it Rogers? Who is the service provider? Our agencies are forced to rely on voluntary disclosure, foreign partners or legal workarounds. I think the police already have a difficult enough time getting the information to build a case. When they have to appear before a judge and get judicial permission, it hampers the whole investigation.
As proud as we are of Canada, we are now the only Five Eyes or G7 country without a modern lawful access regime. This is not a sustainable position for public safety nor Canadian sovereignty. Bill C-22 would be the beginning of creating the lawful regime needed to be able to give more support to our law enforcement officers.
What Bill C-22 would do, in very plain terms, is provide a measured, Canadian solution built on three pillars: clarity, constitutionality and accountability. All three are extremely important for our law enforcement officers to be able to do the job that we ask them to do.
Timely, court-authorized access—