Yes.
I think digital sovereignty is indeed important, but it should not be achieved at the expense of international trade. There needs to be a balance in everything we are discussing. Data must be transferred in a climate of trust, under crystal clear rules. We need to know what can and cannot be transferred, as well as the conditions under which Canadian data can be sent to another country. This raises all kinds of questions, including the rule of law in the country to which the data could be transferred. We need to think about the contractual or legal rules that apply to what companies can do.
We are working very hard on this. One of my recommendations is to adopt a more rigorous framework. In Quebec, the legislation goes further than the federal legislation. Quebec's Bill 25, the act to modernize legislative provisions governing the protection of personal information, has specific requirements. For example, privacy impact assessments must be conducted when data is disclosed outside the province.
We therefore need a stronger regime. In Europe, there are adequacy decisions, which involve a formal assessment. In Canada, along with the United States and Japan, among others, we are working hard to create global rules for data transfers. This is an international priority.