D7

Dave Barnett
On the issues

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Recently, the CBC held an event at their University Avenue office in Moncton.

People could bring their junk mail and old credit card bills and have them professionally shredded. I personally have owned a shredder for years and as identity theft has increased, people have become more and more concerned with privacy.

I think privacy is a good thing. I certainly don't want you to know what shows I like to watch on TV or my favourite brand of peanut butter (although the Air Miles people probably know this.) But when does this go too far?

My wife and I had a daughter in the spring. Because we are concerned about her education, we immediately applied for a social insurance number so we could open an investment account. The kind people at Service Canada asked us to bring in some documents like my daughter's birth certificate.

The Service Canada agent told me that they used to just get a list of all live births from the province. My daughter's appearance on this Earth is now a closely held secret protected by the Privacy Act. Now the federal government has to rely on one of its agents to verify that my daughter's birth certificate is not a forgery. Is this an example of the unintended consequences of our newfound obsession with privacy?

Here is an interesting fact: land records are public. You can go to Service New Brunswick and pay a small fee to buy a map of your neighbour's land and discover his address. You can also see what his assessment is and how much tax he is being charged. This is great if you need to contact someone about a piece of land and you don't know who owns it. But did you know that this same type of ownership information about cars is a secret?

I recently wanted to verify who owned a car. I called Service New Brunswick and was told that this was protected by the Privacy Act. However, if I copied down the VIN number I could do a lien check on their website and see if any bank or lease company had a lien on the car and if they did then the owner's name is probably listed in that information.

You see, records of secured debts are public information.

So let me get to the crux of my little rant. Don't you want to know what's in it for me? Over a year ago I had some tenants renting an apartment. To make a long story short, they didn't pay their rent and left the place in a mess. It ended up costing me $977. I went to court and a judge agreed that I am the victim of hooligans. The judge was kind enough to award me a judgment. My problem now is trying to collect the money.

A good friend of mine recently saw my deadbeat former tenants driving around in a car. They appear to own it. If they do, I have the legal right to put a lien on the car in the hopes of eventually getting the money that was stolen from me. They used my apartment and didn't pay me, then they left a huge mess that I had to pay to clean up. I am just as much a victim of crime as anyone who has had a bicycle stolen or their shed broken into.

Here's the difference though, the privacy laws that are there to protect people are being used to further victimize me. I can't find out who owns that car. My question to you is this: are we sure we want to create an environment where our laws protect criminals at the expense of victims? What is so wrong about being able to find out who owns a car? And let's not stop there . . .

There is a gun registry in this country. Should I not have the right to know if one of my neighbours owns a gun? Don't forget, this would benefit gun owners since burglars would likely start checking the gun registry to avoid gun-protected households. What about dogs and cats? If my tax dollars go to finance these registries should I not have access?

One other interesting point I want to raise is that New Brunswick is one of the few places around where someone with a judgment cannot have a person's wages garnished. If it were, I would have arranged to have my former tenants pay me $50 per paycheque or something and the debt would have been satisfied by now. Should we not be concerned that our laws allow and maybe even encourage people to act irresponsibly?

* Dave Barnett is a Moncton area Real Estate Investor, Business Finance Consultant, Sunbelt Business Broker and a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick. He shares the On The Issues column with Marie-Claude Blais in this space on alternating Saturdays.