Mr. Speaker, I am happy to respond to comments made earlier by the hon. member about Canadian privacy laws.
The government takes the privacy of Canadians very seriously. The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, or PIPEDA, is Canada's private sector privacy law. It is a good piece of legislation and has stood the test of time. However, some tweaks are needed. To that end, we have introduced amendments to PIPEDA. The amendments, which are contained in Bill C-12, will introduce new requirements for organizations to report data breaches to the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and to notify affected individuals when the breaches are deemed to pose a significant risk of harm, such as identity theft or fraud.
However, that is not all. These amendments will further protect the personal information of minors, by requiring organizations to consider the ability of their target audience to comprehend the consequences of sharing their personal information.
Bill C-12 is currently at second reading and, once done, will be headed to committee. I hope we can count on the support of opposition members in ushering in these important amendments to update Canada's private sector privacy law.
I would also like to add that there will be an opportunity to update PIPEDA during the second parliamentary review. While the timing of the review has yet to be determined, I can assure the opposition member that the committee undertaking the review will have an opportunity to examine the legislation, call witnesses and to consider making further amendments.
As I stated earlier, the privacy of Canadians is a matter that the government takes very seriously. I hope we can count on support from all members, including the member opposite, on the passage of Bill C-12.