Evidence of meeting #33 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was pipeda.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:35 a.m.
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
No, I was putting myself in the position of a consumer who has recourse in Canada, or in Quebec under the Quebec act for a breach of contract because of what happened to his or her data abroad, if the Canadian or Quebec standards are not complied with.
9:35 a.m.
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
But you know that in a case like that, the recourse is somewhat like David versus Goliath. There are some companies that are responsible enough to send consumers a letter saying that they apologize because they forgot to do this, lost something or whatever. But, even with a letter of this type, what do you expect the average person to do? Only a small minority of people could afford to take legal action against a large Canadian company with ties to the United States.
9:35 a.m.
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
People might have some hope in Quebec, where class actions are relatively easy, compared to the other provinces. People can turn to the Small Claims Court. There are a number of remedies in Quebec that may not exist in the other provinces. However, anyone can make a complaint to the Privacy Commissioner, and we can take action on his or her behalf.
If someone were to submit a complaint about this, I would find it most interesting. We have not had any so far, but I would be pleased to go to the courts with evidence of damages or breach of contract.
9:35 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Tom Wappel
Thank you Madam. The time is up. You are quite right: it is very short.
9:35 a.m.
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
I had such a good question to ask, Mr. Chairman; it was the best.
9:35 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Tom Wappel
Mr. Dewar, you have seven minutes; so far, each of the others has had eight, so....
9:35 a.m.
NDP
Paul Dewar NDP Ottawa Centre, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to our guests today.
I actually wanted to shine a little light on something that isn't in the brief here, but it has happened most recently. It's a bill that went through Parliament and is on its way to the Senate, and that of course is Bill C-31, which touches on privacy issues.
It's interesting that while we're trying to deal with privacy here, we seem to be opening up opportunities for people who want to exploit privacy in other places in this precinct. That's because in Bill C-31, An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act and the Public Service Employment Act, in the original legislation, they provided birthdate information for purposes of verification of voters. I wrote to you about this concern I had, and that we have in our party, and the fact that it was then amended to further extend that information to political parties. I wrote to you on that; you sent me a letter last week, and I thank you for that.
I just want to clear something up. As recently as Tuesday, in a question in the House, I asked the government if they would be--
9:35 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Tom Wappel
Mr. Dewar, excuse me. I don't want to interrupt your train of thought, but I mentioned at the last meeting--
9:35 a.m.
NDP
Paul Dewar NDP Ottawa Centre, ON
Sure.
The government was saying to me and was saying to Canadians that your statement to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs last spring, in June, was that you didn't have concerns that the sharing of birthdate information could affect Canadians' privacy. In fact, in the letter you sent to me most recently--because in June there wasn't a bill in front of us, so you didn't have the privilege of seeing that--there are concerns that I have. I just want your take on the whole business of sharing birthdate information among political parties, and, for that matter, sharing it out there in the public sphere with those who work for Elections Canada.
Here we are trying to protect privacy, and it seems that this legislation will make citizens' privacy a little vulnerable. I just wanted your take on your concerns on the sharing of birthdate information.
9:35 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Tom Wappel
Okay, Mr. Dewar. You know, you're a guest, in the sense that you're not a permanent member of the committee. This is a very specific piece of legislation--
9:35 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Tom Wappel
--and your attempt to tie into a review of PIPEDA with your question is admirable, but I can't see the relevance of the question of birthdate information in the review of this particular act.
9:35 a.m.
NDP
Paul Dewar NDP Ottawa Centre, ON
Well, duty to notify comes to mind. For instance, the birthdate information comes from--I'm not sure if you're aware, but Canadians are becoming aware that their income tax form is now shared with Elections Canada through this legislation. I'm just looking at the duty to notify. Has this been considered? This is new and is coming in front of the Senate, and if it's passed, it will affect duty to notify. That's just one.
I could go through a number of other tangential points to PIPEDA, because this is new and I think it's relevant. If we're spiriting this through, people quite rightly want to get on this issue. I think it's important that it be put in front, so that a year from now we don't end up asking why this committee didn't consider this new development.
9:40 a.m.
Liberal
9:40 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Tom Wappel
Please do, because other committees have had an opportunity to examine that bill.