Industry committee  We would support it going ahead as well, as it achieves better balance than what we had before. We've learned, over the past number of years, of the weaknesses of the existing legislation, and this bill addresses a number of them. In five years we'll look at this again and maybe get it perfect.

Industry committee  I'll give it a try. It's very difficult for any particular government to control the Internet. There is always a risk that rules you make here just drive the wrongdoers outside the country—not that you should make the rules for here, but they will just move away. You need cooperation internationally to resolve those problems.

Industry committee  I would suggest that insurers will comply with the privacy law as they do their data mining. I'm not sure, really, how to answer that question, to be honest with you.

Industry committee  I'd like to highlight four of them. It's not that we would say, “Stop the bill and make these happen”, but in our mind, they would make for a better bill. For example, in paragraph 7(1)(b), which is collect without consent in certain circumstances, we would also like to have a reference to collecting for the purpose of detecting, preventing, and suppressing fraud.

Industry committee  That is the critical word, finding the right balance. Insurers will respect the privacy of their customers; they have to. They compete with each other. Once a breach happens, once they are known to be abusive of information, customers will no longer go there. In addition, the insurance contract is a contract of utmost good faith, which means that if the insurers do not act appropriately, they could be subject to punitive damages for a claim of bad faith.

Industry committee  Our opinion on that is unchanged from our previous testimony. The reason is that harmonization is critically important for our industry. Our members operate across the country, and if they were to have to take separate approaches for different parts of the country, it would make the cost of the product much larger once you try to specialize for smaller provinces, different provinces.

Industry committee  I'm going to ask my colleague Mr. Dubin to address that question.

Industry committee  I'm glad as well, Mr. Chair. Thank you. My name is Randy Bundus, and I am senior vice-president, legal and general counsel, with lnsurance Bureau of Canada. I am joined by my colleagues Maddy Murariu, with IBC government relations, and Rick Dubin, with IBC's investigative services.