Clause 15 does not set aside the Privacy Act. Those protections granted or provided through the Privacy Act continue to apply. The reason for clause 15 is to provide lawful authority to a government in a situation in which it needs to exchange information. As explained by my colleagues, in this situation Health Canada would have very little information that would identify an individual. It's usually at an aggregate level, and it would take great efforts to re-identify an individual. But in the case that an individual could be re-identified, this protects both the individual and the government institution in sharing that information.
This is not just about sharing with international agencies; it's also about sharing within government departments and with provincial counterparts. Even to function within Canada we need these types of authorities. It's also required to meet the obligations the government has under section 8 of the charter, which imposes protections against unlawful search and seizure.