Information & Ethics committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to make sure that the question is about meetings with ministers' offices, and whether anything has changed recently.

Information & Ethics committee  I will be specific, because I don't have much time. There is nothing new: we are following best practices. These practices were already in place. As for meetings with ministers' offices, this is not specifically addressed in the legislation—I think you alluded to this. There is

Information & Ethics committee  Absolutely. It cuts across security, privacy. If there's a breach, it's a Criminal Code offence. It could be a number of things.

Information & Ethics committee  Mr. Chair, there are a couple of things I'd mention on that front. First of all, there's the work we did at the Treasury Board Secretariat going back a couple of years now, maybe three years, on the U.S.A. Patriot Act. There had been a complaint in B.C. regarding some employees,

Information & Ethics committee  No, Privacy Matters.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, it's up on our website.

Information & Ethics committee  It deals with the contract provisions. It's exactly one of those tools departments find useful because it has templates, tools. If you're issuing a contract, and you're dealing with a certain level of—

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, it's very much a how-to.

Information & Ethics committee  It was very well received in that regard, I think.

Information & Ethics committee  No criminal penalties are provided for in the policies, whether it's ours or that of Service Canada.

Information & Ethics committee  That's not my field, the field of the policy—

Information & Ethics committee  You're talking about a theft, a crime. That's a justice matter. If someone steals an identity or does something illegal with personal information belonging to someone else, I would say that is more of a Criminal Code matter. The RCMP or the police would conduct an investigation,

Information & Ethics committee  I believe Mr. Cochrane would like to add something regarding identity theft.

Information & Ethics committee  Like so many of these things, it cuts across a bunch of areas. If you're talking about federal public servants, you already have some human resources issues if someone is mishandling information. Employees have clearances so that they can handle information at a certain level. It

Information & Ethics committee  If I may supplement that, I think that will answer your question. In some cases, there may be programs or acts as a result of which there may be a sharing with other sectors. That's provided for in the agreements between the departments and—