Thank you for welcoming me to the committee, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Therrien, let me start by thanking you for your work throughout your career.
I usually sit on the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology, where you have appeared in the past.
I consider your testimony something of a legacy. It includes a number of elements, and I will become the messenger to see that all your recommendations are implemented, in particular regarding our role as legislators and the need to double your office's budget to improve its effectiveness in the face of “surveillance capitalism”, which is a great term.
That said, regarding the federal government's use of mobility data, the government did inform you of its intentions, but it also chose to use other experts to look into technical ways of depersonalizing the data. In the end, there have been times during your mandate when you might have felt superfluous. At least it seems that way.
Were there times when you felt sidelined by the government?