Information & Ethics committee  There's a two-key system here. It has to be personal and it has to be commercial for this act to apply. If it's not commercial, then the act does not apply.

Information & Ethics committee  Right. Both.

Information & Ethics committee  There was a big debate. We use the example of whether a physician's prescribing patterns are private information for the physician or if they're private for the patients? There's a big debate about that, and presumably the court will determine what the outcome is.

Information & Ethics committee  Let me say it this way. Five years sounds like a lot of time, but I have to tell you the actual law experience is only very recent. It look a long time to operationalize, for example, what is consent, how do you get consent, etc. The health sector didn't come on board until 2004.

Information & Ethics committee  Mr. Chair, if I may, our original intention was to make sure that the business community doesn't have a patch of different rules across provinces. Business is more and more becoming national and international. In fact, we did emphasize that nowadays if you want to do business in Europe you have to have a piece of legislation that's acceptable to Europeans about protecting personal information.

Information & Ethics committee  Most of the input was about improving the act rather than saying what is not working, but there are different opinions as to what the input might look like.

Information & Ethics committee  No.

Information & Ethics committee  The Quebec government.

Information & Ethics committee  The Department of Justice.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, and we're informed, Mr. Chair, that they've asked for another extension.

Information & Ethics committee  If I may interject, Mr. Chair, it took about 10 years to get consensus of all parties--private sector, consumers, government--to come up with these ten commandments of privacy. I have to tell you this is the core understanding of the big policy issues that are embedded in this particular act.

Information & Ethics committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm delighted to be here today to discuss this legislation with you. You've already asked me probably the afternoon's toughest question. The answer is that we call the bill “PIPEDA”, but I too have heard all kinds of variations. Whether or not you want to adopt our pronunciation is up to you.

Information & Ethics committee  A lot of it is to take away and read. We will go very quickly through it.

Information & Ethics committee  Richard.