Mr. Speaker, the NDP is entirely supportive of the need to update our privacy laws, especially in the digital age, when we frequently share our private lives online. However, something about this bill really bothers me, which is why the NDP will not be supporting it.
Unfortunately, although the bill is called the digital privacy act, some of its measures actually work against privacy by opening the door to more sharing of personal information among organizations, on a voluntary basis, without the knowledge or consent of the individuals in question. The Privacy Commissioner even raised some concerns about this. This will really open the door to a lot of information sharing. Sometimes it will be for legitimate reasons, and sometimes not.
Why has the government not taken action in this regard? Why did it not include the amendments put forward by the Privacy Commissioner to ensure that this bill really does protect Canadians?