As was mentioned before this committee, it is important that the regime does not focus exclusively on the notion of consent, that it does not completely leave it up to citizens to inform themselves about these provisions, which are often very complex, to understand them and to say "yes" or "no.”
Canadians need to be reassured by a legal regime based on a fundamental right model. This regime needs to frame certain practices that should not be allowed even if there is consent and others that could be allowed without consent. There is also an element of transparency. Companies and government need to take proactive approaches and do privacy audits. We need to have what is called integrated privacy and better communication about these provisions. That way, Canadians will know what is really going on. Sometimes this concern is well founded, but it can also come from a lack of understanding of what is going on, which leads to doubts and suspicions.
One of the themes that came out of your recent work on mobility was about communicating what was being done, what data was being collected, why it was being collected and how it was being used. There were a lot of concerns.
The recent Tim Hortons investigation raised other concerns of this type.
I think there's a lot of work to be done in terms of the legal regime, communication and education.