Clearly, it would be much better if the legislation were amended. I spoke about the transfer of data between the public and private sectors. However, there's also the current issue of transfers between the federal and provincial governments. It's a very complex world, with a number of stakeholders. It would be extremely useful to adopt common principles for all stakeholders in order to better manage data transfers and data use while respecting privacy.
As things stand now, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada would have jurisdiction only if a federal department were using data. This possibility isn't straightforward, since the federal government says that it wants to favour an application that could be implemented by the provinces. If no personal information is collected by a federal institution or department, the office would have no role to play. However, if provincial authorities collect and use personal information for the purposes of COVID-19, then my colleagues in the provinces will have jurisdiction.