Mr. Speaker, on September 25, I rose in the House to share Canadians' concerns about the protection of their personal information online. I also asked the government what it was going to do about this and whether it would finally update Canadian laws in order to protect Canadians' personal information online. Canadians have cause for concern about the protection of their personal information. The Privacy Commissioner published a report showing that many popular websites that we use every day are leaking personal information, which is very worrisome.
The Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics is currently examining these issues and is finding that there are many problems and potential risks. Meanwhile, the Conservatives are stuck in the stone age. They are not modernizing our laws in order to ensure that those laws remain relevant given the existing digital reality and new risks.
The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act is supposed to be reviewed every five years. Unfortunately, we have still not been able to pass the first revision. Bill C-12 is seven years late, and that is very worrisome. We are also late in dealing with Canada's anti-spam legislation. The regulations have still not been implemented, despite the fact that we have been waiting for years for this to happen.
Meanwhile, things are changing. In the digital age, everything moves very quickly. We must be proactive in order to protect personal information and keep up with the digital age, rather than being left behind. When I asked my question, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Industry said:
“The government introduced Bill C-12, which is an important tool for ensuring a stronger digital economy”.
As I have already pointed out, Bill C-12 is seven years behind. It is already time for another review, which we are supposed to do every five years according to the act. Unfortunately, we are not yet there. The government keeps putting off the review on personal information protection.
While the government is dragging its feet, businesses have no obligation to issue warnings about compromised data. Furthermore, major websites continue to disclose personal information. I repeat: will the government join the 21st century and modernize laws to protect our personal information online?