As was pointed out, CPC-9 is a very broad set of proposed amendments that would, as we understand it, have the effect of making three important changes. First, it would limit the imposition of cost awards against the OPC. Second, it appears to remove the private right of action that would allow folks who have been impacted by a transgression of law to be compensated for their loss. Third, it would remove the tribunal from part 1 of the act.
We see the tribunal as a critical element that's necessary to ensure that the system is credible and fair. Removing it would be inconsistent with the current commissioner's recommendations. We have since 2018 conducted a significant number of consultations and engagements broadly engaging Canadians. I believe in 2018 there were more than 30 round tables across the country. More than 550 Canadians participated in those engagements. The more recent figure of 300 meetings that the honourable member referenced, I believe, refers to part 3 of the bill, on AIDA, which obviously we will come back to later.
A number of stakeholders pointed out that it would be perhaps unprecedented and certainly out of alignment with international examples, and even some domestic models and examples, to have one individual carry out an ombuds function, an investigatory function and an adjudicative function all in one. There have been, to our count, 50 cases since 2003 that have gone from the Privacy Commissioner on to court. By our count, 70% of those court decisions disagreed with the OPC's position on the issue. Expecting the Privacy Commissioner to carry out these very distinct functions in addition to the significant new powers that have been added....
The CPPA will provide the Privacy Commissioner with a number of new enforcement powers. They include the ability to issue binding orders following investigations, which can order compliance with the CPPA. They can order organizations to cease activities that violate the CPPA. They can force compliance in a compliance agreement and also make public any measure taken to comply with the CPPA.
In addition, the CPPA enables the commissioner to recommend administrative monetary penalties. That's the point at which a recommendation would be made to the tribunal around the penalties. The orders and all those are powers being vested directly with the commissioner and not with the tribunal. It's important to recognize as well that the tribunal has an important appeal function to play and has expertise in the space by virtue of the fact that three of the six members of the tribunal must be recognized as privacy experts.
I also think it's important to point out that we don't see any risk of hampering joint investigations that would be undertaken between the federal Privacy Commissioner and any provincial counterparts. A number of international counterparts do have tribunal-type approaches, including Australia, New Zealand and Ireland, just off the top of my head. The U.K. also has a tribunal approach, organized slightly differently. The CAI in Quebec also has a tribunal approach to doing this function. We don't see any issues around joint investigations at all. In fact, the CPPA specifically encourages and allows for the OPC to engage with other regulators to share information and to leverage that information to the best effect to protect Canadians. It's also consistent with other areas of federal regulation in which tribunals are used—agriculture, transport, competition and international trade.
The efficiency of the CPPA tribunal has also been raised in this recent dialogue. It's important to recognize that we see efficiency gains actually being made by providing a tribunal that, first of all, pays deference to the commissioner's decisions, whereas a court would take a de novo proceeding. By having proceedings that are more informal and easier to understand and engage with for ordinary Canadians, rather than needing to have a lawyer go through the proceedings with the Federal Court, it would be less costly and easier to access as well, for those reasons, and for ordinary Canadians to engage with.
There are a number of very important reasons that we feel the tribunal is the right approach. The department did receive many, many inputs to that effect from a range of stakeholders, dating back to 2018, before the previous Bill C-11 was introduced.
I hope that helps to answer the question.