Hon. Leo Housakos: Will the government leader take a question?

Hon. Leo Housakos: Thank you, government leader, for your patience in taking all these questions today, even though I have to admit I find you’re defending the indefensible.

I don’t think there are any parliamentarians here that don’t recognize that there are extremist groups. There have been for decades. It’s not a new invention. It’s just that other governments dealt with those extremist groups using measured approaches. We are a country that believes in law and order and in rights as well. When you have just law and order and not rights, then you are no longer a great democracy.

I want to ask a couple of succinct questions because I’ve been trying to get an answer to them, and I really haven’t. One of them is a supplementary to Senator Batters’ question. She was pretty clear. When the government investigates or freezes an account, how do the citizens whose accounts are being investigated or frozen know? Also, what measures do they have? What’s available to them in order to defend themselves? As you know, and I saw from your answer, you recognize — and you said it — there is communication constantly between the RCMP, police authorities and banks when they’re investigating or when they’ve identified something to be suspicious. As you know, banks will not call their clients and say, “You are under investigation.” They will not inform them that they are being investigated for terrorism, money laundering or whatever the case may be.

I have a case right now of a constituent who happened to be going to a financial institution a couple of days ago simply to transfer an account from one institution to another, and they said, “Your account is frozen.” He asked why, and they said, “We can’t tell you.” That individual might never find out or when he does find out might be, in terms of their rights, a little bit too late.

We need a clear answer other than just the answer that police authorities are constantly in communication with banks. My question is this: What are the measures to make sure they do not overstep their authority, and who determines that?

My next question is related: How do bank seizures of accounts facilitate the cleaning out or moving out of protesters from Wellington Street? I just don’t see the connection.