Senator Wells: That is a good question. It is a paragraph that I had in the speech but I took it out because I wanted to concentrate on the substance of the bill. The question of oversight of CBSA, which is lacking, wasn’t part of the bill.

Perhaps that question could be asked at committee when witnesses come from CBSA or perhaps Senator Boniface might know more about it at third reading. That is a good question and it is important.

Senator Wells: Senator Dupuis, you’re absolutely right, that’s what the Court of Appeal said. The new concept chosen by the government is “reasonable general concern,” and that’s what I have issues with because, to me, there is no limit to what might trigger a search. We’re supposed to be given comfort by the fact that we are told they’ll take notes. Well, the notes will be there to protect CBSA, for sure; they won’t be there to protect the individual, in my opinion. They will say the person looked nervous or that it didn’t appear that he was from Canada or whatever. He was sweating and fidgety.

I think that the bar of reasonable general concern — which, exactly as you said, is the new concept presented by the government, which, I guess, follows advice from CBSA — is too low for the protection of the individual’s privacy rights that every law-abiding Canadian should be afforded.