Public Safety Committee on Nov. 6th, 2025

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON]

NSIRA ultimately reports to Parliament. They are—

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

I’m sorry to cut you off. I don’t mean to be rude, but time is running out.

How often do you report to Parliament, Minister?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON]

First of all, the parties are represented, if you recall, within these entities. For reference, I believe Conservatives as well as Bloc members are part of the review. It is a representative entity that reports, ultimately, to Parliament on an annualized basis.

[The Chair, Liberal, Jean-Yves Duclos]

Thank you, Mr. Fortin. You might have another chance later.

Mr. Strauss, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for being here. It's an honour to get to ask you these questions.

Do you believe that AI deepfakes, misinformation, disinformation and the like are threats to the integrity of the Canadian telecommunications system?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON]

I think they are threats in a number of ways—

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

That's all I need. Thank you. You agree that they are threats to our telecommunications system.

My concerns with this bill are largely surrounding proposed section 15.2. It states, “If there are reasonable grounds to believe that it is necessary to do so to secure the Canadian telecommunications system against any threat”, the Minister of Industry, which would be Melanie Joly, may consult with the Minister of Public Safety, that being you, to “prohibit a telecommunications service provider from providing any service to any specified person”.

Am I “any specified person”, potentially?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON]

I think you're looking at the section in isolation, Mr. Strauss. Let me just say that in order to execute one of these revocations, for lack of a better term, there is a process in place. It is not—

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

It does not include a warrant. Is that correct?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON]

Perhaps I could finish. It is not an arbitrary process. We need to have evidence that an individual poses a threat to the critical cyber-infrastructure of the country. Without that, their account could not be revoked.

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Thank you, Minister.

Why does it say “telecommunications system” instead of “critical infrastructure” in the bill? It's your bill.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON]

In this particular case....

There are some technical issues, Mr. Chair. At some point, maybe we can look at it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Jean-Yves Duclos]

We'll stop the clock for a second.

I think it was MP Lloyd who appropriately raised a question of microphones and recordings. The system, according to my understanding, works in the following manner. If we want to be heard when we start speaking, we need to turn the microphone on a second or two beforehand, so that the system connects to the microphone. It's a matter of one or perhaps two seconds before you speak. If you absolutely want to be heard, which is the normal case, I suppose, you need to connect your microphone a second or two before you start speaking.

Having said that, MP Strauss, the floor is yours.

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Thank you.

I have a concern about critical infrastructure. I think impingements on civil liberties to protect critical infrastructure could be justified, but that's not what the bill says. Could you allay my concern here? Instead of saying “telecommunications system”, could you change it to “critical infrastructure pertaining to the telecommunications system”?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON]

Look, if that's an amendment that you wish to make, Mr. Strauss, I'd be more than willing to look at it. I can't give you that answer off the top without giving some reflection and getting some advice on it. We'll be more than glad to look at it.

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

I've been raising this in the House for more than a month. I would prefer that you would have reflected on it already.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON]

If I may, the debate oftentimes brings a number of perspectives there that may not materialize into amendments. I do think that from a process perspective, if there's something you want to put forward as part of the amending process that we will have in this committee, I will be more than glad to look at it.

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

I will do. Thank you.

Also, proposed subsection 15.1(3) says the order that is made to any person to deny them any service, which is obviously overly broad, may include “prohibiting the disclosure of its existence”. If I did something that you and Melanie Joly thought was misinformation and you decided to revoke my Internet privileges, you could order me not to disclose that to anyone. Is that correct?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON]

To be clear, this is not about misinformation, Mr. Strauss.

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

You said that's a threat to telecommunications.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON]

It's absolutely not about misinformation. This is about critical threats to our infrastructure, including telecommunications.

I think we have to be very careful. There's a delineation here. There is misinformation that happens every single day on a range of different platforms, and they are not subject to this legislation. What is subject to the legislation is if an individual causes a threat to our telecommunications infrastructure or other critical infrastructure—

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Minister, it doesn't say that. It doesn't say “critical infrastructure”. You're telling me the bill is not about what it says it is.

In any case, however you interpret proposed section 15.1, if I threaten it, then you can order me not to say I've been kicked off the Internet. Is that correct?

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON]

It is not about kicking people off the Internet, Mr. Strauss. It's about the protection of our infrastructure and our telecommunications systems—

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

—by kicking people off the Internet.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, ON]

It's not based on frivolous allegations. We are living in a world of misinformation, sadly. It is a sad reality for all of us here, and all of us face that every single day as politicians.