Finance committee  There is all kinds of review and oversight. There's review before the fact to authorize a certain government action, for instance, a court authorizing the issuing of a warrant. Review normally takes place after the fact. So it is an auditing system whereby one verifies whether or

Finance committee  As I explained previously, objective standards can create a filter—such as the limit currently set at $10,000—before financial institutions could pass information on to FINTRAC. I am not an expert in this area, but I think it is entirely possible for the limit to be deemed unrea

Finance committee  As I was saying, in terms of administration, I am the only person with the authority to review FINTRAC's activities, and only when it comes to privacy issues.

Finance committee  I think that what's missing is an administrative body that could carry out a more general review of the legality and effectiveness of FINTRAC's activities. Some of my colleagues today have mentioned that FINTRAC did a good job of obtaining and analyzing the information submitted

Finance committee  I have no particular opinion on its capacity to analyze the information, but there is no question that it will receive much more information.

Information & Ethics committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good afternoon, honourable members. I am pleased to address our office's main estimates, and with me today are Daniel Nadeau, our chief financial officer; and Patricia Kosseim, our general counsel. In my time, I will outline our fiscal outlook, describe ho

Information & Ethics committee  I was not invited to appear before the committees of the House, but I did appear before a Senate committee to speak to Bill C-51, and I made presentations to the appropriate committees of both Houses. All I can do is make the strongest possible case to parliamentarians. It is bet

Information & Ethics committee  On the whole, I think Bill S-4 is a positive development. It contains a number of positive aspects, including newly granted enforcement powers. Agreements could be applied more directly. Overall, we feel that Bill S-4 is positive. I did recommend a few amendments to the bill th

Information & Ethics committee  Yes. In terms of volume, there has been a significant increase in the number of complaints under both the Privacy Act and under PIPEDA, if we look at a period of several years. In the last year the increase under the Privacy Act has been less important, approximately 10%. Under P

Information & Ethics committee  I'll give you a bit of a long answer, as short as possible. The worst consequence, I would say, would be that under the Privacy Act regime the treatment time of complaints is growing because of limited capacity. That said, we closed more files last year than we received so the

Information & Ethics committee  I'm not seeking it right now. My point is that—

Information & Ethics committee  My point is this: we have to deal with complaints, and they're growing. We have a number of means to address them efficiently. That's one side of the picture. What I'm referring to when I say we have new responsibilities is mostly new statutory responsibilities, under Bill S-4,

Information & Ethics committee  Sure. When we consulted either the general public or stakeholders, but particularly the general public, the risk of identity theft was one of the biggest concerns among the general population. We certainly plan to have public education initiatives to inform the public about these

Information & Ethics committee  Yes. We plan, for instance, to provide more guidance to small and medium-sized businesses. We find that although they don't have a perfect record, large companies are better at protecting privacy, particularly in terms of breaches, although there are instances of problems even wi

Information & Ethics committee  As far as private businesses go, we have held some consultations with telecommunications companies. I would say that the overall response has been rather positive. Most of the companies are willing to release that information, within certain parameters, of course. I think there i