Evidence of meeting #131 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was proud.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:10 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
You mentioned that Ontario Proud is subject to provincial privacy laws. They comply with provincial privacy laws here in Ontario. Is that right? You said that to me earlier.
12:10 p.m.
Liberal
12:10 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
Does the Privacy Act apply to an organization like Ontario Proud?
12:10 p.m.
Lawyer and Director, Ontario Proud
We comply with all relevant privacy legislation. If there's a specific question you have about our compliance, I'm happy to discuss it.
12:10 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
I guess my specific question is.... PIPEDA actually applies to commercial organizations in Ontario, because Ontario doesn't have substantially similar legislation to apply to commercial entities. By saying you comply with provincial privacy laws, do you mean that you comply with PIPEDA?
12:10 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
Okay, except that PIPEDA doesn't apply to non-commercial entities, so it wouldn't actually apply to Ontario Proud....
12:10 p.m.
Lawyer and Director, Ontario Proud
Yes. I mean, you can interpret it the way you want. We comply with the spirit of PIPEDA and the spirit of Ontario's Privacy Act. We've implemented a privacy policy, though we do not believe we had legal compulsion to do so in light of the work we do. We abide by that policy, and we're very strict about the use of our supporters' data with respect to—
12:10 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
I appreciate that, and consent is obviously an overriding feature of PIPEDA.
When you called 2.5 million people and you texted a million people, did you have consent to contact them on behalf of Ontario Proud?
12:10 p.m.
Lawyer and Director, Ontario Proud
Again, we work with a vendor, who complies—
12:10 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
Did the vendor have the consent of these individuals?
12:10 p.m.
Lawyer and Director, Ontario Proud
You'd have to speak to the vendor, but the vendor has assured us that it complies with all relevant legislation, both federal privacy legislation—because that's a telecommunications venture—and CASL.
12:10 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bob Zimmer
That's the time. Thank you, Mr. Erskine-Smith.
Next up, for five minutes, is Monsieur Gourde.
12:10 p.m.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lévis—Lotbinière, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. O'Connor, Ontario Proud was founded in 2016.
12:10 p.m.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lévis—Lotbinière, QC
What is its legal status? Is it a foundation? Is it a company?
12:10 p.m.
Conservative
12:10 p.m.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lévis—Lotbinière, QC
The board of directors establishes Ontario Proud's goals, focus and mission. What is this mission?
12:10 p.m.
Lawyer and Director, Ontario Proud
Our mission is to promote lower taxes, fair taxes; accountability and ethics in government; Ontario and Canadian culture; transparency; and personal freedom.
12:10 p.m.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lévis—Lotbinière, QC
By definition, do you need to maintain the equivalent of a newspaper using digital media? Advertising involves the publication of messages, videos and photos. People take care of this. It's the basis of the work done by a media outlet.
12:10 p.m.
Lawyer and Director, Ontario Proud
That's the basis of a lot of the work we do. It's predominantly online-focused, if not exclusively. We have strayed away from online advertising and political messaging. Prior to the last Ontario election, for example, we ran some TV ads in a local market in Ontario. For the most part, the work that we do—the videos we produce, the memes and the content—is all online on social media.