Justice committee  No, Mr. Shean is entirely right. I don't believe it's just the construction industry. It is a well-known organized crime technique to slip into, to enter an industry by the front door, then to expand its field of action using its own techniques. This method is known around the wo

Justice committee  That's correct, sir. As an example, in Montreal there have been some specific cases, investigations covered, that individuals working for a public body accessing information were corrupted and passing information on. They were subsequently dealt with, whether it was criminally or

Justice committee  To the best of my knowledge, in those cases it was mainly financial incentives. I add that, based on my experience investigating organized crime. Organized crime in some cases has a knack, if you wish, or an ability to identify individuals who are more susceptible, and will in a

Justice committee  I can't answer you today. Unfortunately, I was not prepared for that question, Mr. Ménard. However, I can check to see if that information is available. If so, we can forward it to the committee. I believe you will be touring across the country.

Justice committee  I would like to be able to answer, Mr. Ménard. My work in the field of proceeds of crime goes back a few years. It would be more appropriate to put that question to someone who is able to provide a more up-to-date answer.

Justice committee  Mr. Ménard, I'll try to answer your first question, concerning the interaction between organized crime and industries, particularly in the construction sector. It goes without saying that organized crime has to launder its money. In the past 20 years, the act has enabled us to a

Justice committee  In terms of intimidation, sir, a good example is the problems in Quebec. Monsieur Ménard may well be aware of this. Intimidation of public officials, police officers, judiciary, jury, and prosecutors is prevalent. In the province of Quebec, as an example, they've had to establish

Justice committee  Mr. Murphy, I'll address the issue of corruption of public officials. In my prior capacity, I was responsible for the CFSU in Montreal, Projet Colisée, which some of you may know. That investigation, as with other investigations across Canada, has demonstrated that the more entre

Justice committee  We'll split the answer, sir. From an investigative standpoint, there are two issues at play. The issue of what chemicals are found, Mr. Culver can address more specifically. The other portion of the answer would be that at times in investigations, evidence is there other than t

Justice committee  Keep in mind that for the most part we are looking at economy-based labs; those are the labs that have a high yield. What we are looking at is organized crime, which is behind them. They are well aware of what our legislation is and of our investigative capacities. The way they a

Justice committee  My answer is going to be limited to the investigative capacity and I'll defer to Mr. Yost for any legal interpretation of it. From an investigative capacity, I would say that in the opportunities where police are in possession of intention to produce, it does move the yardstick

Justice committee  Sir, it's a pleasure being before you again today. Since our last appearance in December, the RCMP has had a chance to review the proposed bill with its amendments and is able to provide a recommendation as requested last time. Since that time, the RCMP has released its 2006 dr

Justice committee  I'd like to answer that question, but unfortunately you'll have to speak to legal services. But allow me to expand on Mr. Culver's answer as well. In terms of organized crime, and specific to your question, it's a known fact that organized crime is well aware of our techniques.

Justice committee  That's a good question, sir. Thank you. You're absolutely right when you say that nowadays we do have legislation at our disposal that allows us to address the issue of conspiracy. As you probably know, in order to establish a conspiracy, or when we bring it to the courts once w

Justice committee  Not necessarily in terms of obtaining the evidence of intent, or something to that effect; I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you. I say that, but I also say that I have to go back and speak to legal services to make sure I'm well founded. I am not a lawyer.