Public Safety Committee on Jan. 27th, 2026

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you for being here, Minister.

When a bill is drafted, consultations are held beforehand to ensure that it truly meets the need for which it is intended. I was surprised to learn that the Privacy Commissioner’s recommendations regarding the bill were not taken into account. He told us that the bill was somewhat uneven in terms of the criteria of necessity and proportionality. I wonder where you stand on this, because it seems to me that, throughout the work on the bill, the government has shown its commitment to the criteria of necessity and proportionality in the exchange of personal information. As you know, the protection of personal information is important to Quebeckers and Canadians.

Can you explain why you did not adopt the recommendations of the Privacy Commissioner?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

My colleagues and I inherited this bill, which had already been passed, but for unfortunate procedural reasons, it died on the Order Paper. We therefore reintroduced the bill, which remained unchanged. The parliamentary legislative work has already been done. However, I understand that my colleagues now have other points of view. As I said earlier in response to my colleague Mr. Caputo, I am quite willing to consider amendments.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon, QC]

You could consider amendments that would address the commissioner’s recommendations.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Yes, I am prepared to consider amendments related to the criteria of proportionality and necessity. My goal is to bring regulatory predictability and certainty, but at the same time to strike a good balance between government powers and privacy protection.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon, QC]

That’s perfect.

My second question concerns back doors. Several witnesses have told us that the bill, in its current form, would weaken encryption standards, which could increase the risk of cyber-attacks. Agencies would have easier access to certain personal information, but this information would also be available to foreign entities that wanted to obtain it.

Why is there this desire to weaken encryption standards?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

There is no desire to weaken encryption standards. Perhaps Ms. McMicking could add something on that point.

[Kasi McMicking, Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy Sector, Department of Industry]

I will turn to my colleague, Mr. Arbour.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon, QC]

Mr. Arbour, it’s not that I don’t want to hear you, it’s more that I want to make it clear to the minister that this is a fairly important issue. It seems to be a matter of vocabulary…. I didn’t know what an encryption standard was. I learned about it. However, weakening this standard is a very important issue, and it has been highlighted by many witnesses.

So I understand, Minister, that you may have difficulty explaining to me why it was not included in the bill.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

No, I just want to make sure that my colleague can provide a little more detail on that. I can also add some later.

[Andre Arbour, Director General, Telecommunications and Internet Policy Branch, Department of Industry]

Thank you for your question.

I understand the concerns in this regard, but the purpose of the bill is to secure the telecommunications system. However, it is already impossible to create a decree to break the encryption of a network.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon, QC]

Mr. Arbour, I don’t want to interrupt you, but this issue is very important to me. I have asked this question several times. If it were as simple as you say, why are expert witnesses so concerned about this issue?

Madam Minister, can you explain to me why the witnesses we heard from expressed such concern about this issue?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

We have heard the comments related to the issue of encryption. We are prepared to examine amendments on these issues so that there are no problems with regard to the protection of the telecommunications system and its infrastructure, the path to encryption and the protection of privacy. We understand that this transition must be adequately covered by the bill. For this reason, I would welcome amendments on these issues. That said, I absolutely do not want this to lead us to the issue of freedom of expression. That is what I fear, and that is why I want to ensure that we limit ourselves to critical infrastructure issues.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon, QC]

Many witnesses have proposed amendments. We see that you are willing to discuss them.

I have only one minute left to speak. My last question concerns the overlap of standards. Electricity Canada made a recommendation to us on this subject. For example, in Quebec, Hydro-Québec already adheres to North American international reliability standards and is concerned about the overlap of standards and their duplication.

If we tried to clarify everything, we might be able to reassure Electricity Canada and Hydro-Québec. What do you think?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

I believe that the Telecommunications Act is a federal law. We do not believe that we are outside our jurisdiction.

We are happy to work with all the electricity companies in the country, which are, of course, under provincial jurisdiction—

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon, QC]

I don’t want to interrupt you, Minister, but is power transmission under federal jurisdiction? I believe it is excluded from the act.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Telecommunications itself falls under federal jurisdiction. All systems of—

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon, QC]

Power lines are not under federal jurisdiction.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

If they are interprovincial, they fall under federal jurisdiction. If they are in Quebec or within a province, they are a matter of provincial jurisdiction.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry—Soulanges—Huntingdon, QC]

There is still a problem, however—

[The Chair, Liberal, Jean-Yves Duclos]

I’m sorry to interrupt you. Unfortunately, your speaking time is up.

That was very interesting, I would have liked to let you continue.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

We were doing a course on the distribution of jurisdictions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Jean-Yves Duclos]

Unfortunately, not only are we off topic, but we have also exceeded the time allocated for your discussion.

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

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Parkland, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister and officials, for being here.

Minister, one of the key reasons your government cited for bringing forward this legislation was the need for you, as minister, to have the authority to remove hardware or prevent the installation of hardware that could pose a threat to our telecommunications system. Specifically, I'm talking about Huawei and ZTE.

Can you confirm to this committee that, if granted these powers, you will make an order to remove any remaining Huawei technology from our telecommunications system?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

That's the goal of the 2022 policy statement regarding ZTE and Huawei. That's why I've mentioned, at least three times—

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Parkland, AB]

Give a clear, yes-or-no answer, Minister.