House of Commons Hansard #222 of the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was youth.
The House resumed consideration of Bill S-4, An Act to amend the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and to make a consequential amendment to another Act, as reported without amendment from the committee, and of the motions in Group No. 1.
Adam Vaughan Liberal Trinity—Spadina, ON
Mr. Speaker, before I begin my remarks on the bill, I would like to pay my respects to the members of the House who rose today and shared personal experiences regarding the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which reported today. Many of their words were heartfelt and were received that way. The House has work to do and I commit on behalf of my constituents to share in that journey and in that work. It is important work that lies in front of us. Not all of us will get a chance to speak to it today, so I wanted to be on the record with those comments.
Regarding the legislation that sits in front of us, this is yet another piece of legislation that toys with privacy and the impact of changing privacy rules. There have been several in this session of Parliament. Taken in isolation, they all creep toward something that is making more and more Canadians worried about their privacy and the security of their private data, wondering what the true motive of the government is when we take all of the items in concert.
There are ways of rationalizing and accepting, and even valid criteria to act upon in changing the privacy rules around data, but what seems to define the legislation and much of the actions of the government is that each and every one of those pieces of legislation is rushed through. Careful consideration of the impacts that are proposed are almost never part of the consideration, never reflected in amendments, and never reflected in the refinement of rules.
This latest legislation was presented to the House, then presented and pushed through committee and re-presented to the House as perfect from the get-go. I have covered politics most of my life. I have been around legislative processes in all three levels of government in our country and I have never seen such arrogance around the notion of presenting perfect legislation. The record of the government having its rules and regulations tested by the Supreme Court ought to give it pause for consideration, that when wise individuals and learned groups appear before committee and point out glaring mistakes, omissions or concerns there never seems to be a capacity to listen, only to soldier on.
While perhaps I respect the tenacity of the government on these files, errors are being made that put people at risk. However, what it really does, and I think this has been seen in the last part of the session, is that Canadians do not trust the government with their privacy anymore. It leads to speculation, worries and even paranoia, to the point where the faith in the government has disappeared. That is a concern.
In many of the omnibus bills is the kernel of a good idea, of a legitimate process, but it gets obscured by the omnibus nature of some of these bills, by the vagaries of some of the language, and by the intransigence and stubbornness of committee members and members of the opposite party to sit there, to listen, to take input, to make amendments, and to make a good idea a better idea, which is the role of Parliament. It astounds me that the government seems to think it gets it right the first time, every time. I have never seen that in any government. Any government that has that much self-assurance really ought to stop and consider whether it is acting in the best interest even of itself.
One of the dynamics here is that there seems to be this belief that the private sector is acting in the interests of the private sector, that it has the best interests of private individuals at heart. If the government truly believed that surveillance, the sharing of information, and the distribution of that information to third parties was such a wise way to go and was part of the argument toward stronger public safety rules and regulations, imagine if we were not talking about metadata right now and talking about rifles instead. The government would never tolerate, in fact has never tolerated, this kind of tracking, intrusion and data banking of people's information about something which is really dangerous, such as a gun. Yet when it comes to private information, it lets it go this way, that way and every way. It clamps down on the very same individual rights and privileges of people with their data. It will release that information and share it willingly, but will not do it when it comes to guns. There is a contradiction there that does not make sense.
There is a balance that needs to be struck. We hear about that balance all the time around various other debates, but when it comes to sharing information, it seems to go out the window. We have a party that on the one hand says we cannot share any information about who owns weapons in this country, but on the other hand says that we can go into anybody's computer and distribute that information as widely as we want in the name of public safety.
If the party opposite could reconcile that contradiction for me, I would be happy to listen to the arguments. However, from my perspective, we need a balance in both of those issues, and that balance has not been achieved in either one of them. In large part, that is because the paranoia with which the government pursues one file is coupled with a complete lack of trust on another file. As I said, it is contradictory and does not make any sense to me.
The other issue that crops up again and again is the government's inability to orchestrate proper civilian oversight of the changes it is making. Just as it has no doubt about the legislation that it introduces and believes it to be perfect from the word go, the government never seems to think that there is a need to review and be perpetually vigilant about where the legislation may be going off track or delivering results that were not intended or expected. There is no oversight about how this information is being shared or how the agencies that are pursuing, sharing, or developing it are conducting themselves.
The absence of this oversight on so many files tells me another thing. It tells me that the government does not trust civilians as much as it trusts itself. That, at the heart of the legislation, has to raise concerns on the opposite side. Either we trust people or we do not. The government does not trust the opposition. It does not trust ordinary Canadians. Half of the time it does not even trust the courts to provide this oversight and review and to check the government against its own mistakes.
Parliamentarians are human, and they make mistakes. We all have to correct each other, and if we do not build that into legislation, particularly into privacy legislation, we fail each other. That is one of the reasons that, despite there being some good in this bill, on balance it fails.
The bill fails in two regards. In fails in that it would not create a consistent approach or a collaborative effort to create better legislation, which worries us. It also fails because it would once again fail to bring in a mandatory and processional review of how this legislation is performing. Without those checks and balances, the legislation leads to Canadians worrying that their government is not protecting them. Those worries take Parliament, the respect for Parliament, and the respect for the rule of law into places that they just should not go in a modern democracy.
For those reasons, my party and I will not be supporting this bill.
New powers require new responsibilities, and the best way to make sure that they serve both the public and private interests of individual Canadians is to make sure that Canadians have oversight of these rules and regulations. Once again, that is absent from this legislation, even though experts who appeared before the government in committee urged that it be there. That is a failing, and it is a failing that has ramifications far beyond this bill.
Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB
Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the member might provide further comment regarding the importance of the government getting legislation of this nature right. We have a continual reliance on and growth in the Internet, where private information is becoming more and more prevalent and corporations and other types of agencies have large data banks where they accumulate all sorts of personal and non-personal information about Canadians.
There is a role for the government to play, but it is absolutely critical to ensure that information is protected and that individuals' rights pertaining to their information are also protected.
Adam Vaughan Liberal Trinity—Spadina, ON
Mr. Speaker, there is an old saying that the pen is mightier than the sword. The government is sometimes more afraid of the pen than it is of the sword. We can see that in its approach to managing the firearms issue in this country.
When it comes to information, it is completely paranoid. It wants to track every computer, it wants to look into every set of data, it wants to use that data, and it wants to share that data as widely as possible.
I would suggest that there is a need for balance here. Just as there are legitimate reasons that someone might want to track data and just as there are legitimate ways in which someone might do that, with checks and balances in place to make sure that private individuals' rights are protected, the same care should be used when it comes to the sword as it is with the pen.
What I find funny about the government is that it does not care where the weapons are in this country, but it really wants to know what people's thoughts are. When it comes to that, what we are thinking as a group of libertarians is somehow more dangerous than what we are doing. I find that very strange in a government that claims to be on the side of the individual. It is not. It is tracking them. It is not taking care of that information, and when it comes to checks and balances, it is missing in action.
Charmaine Borg NDP Terrebonne—Blainville, QC
Mr. Speaker, I listened to my Liberal colleague's speech.
He said he is extremely concerned about protecting Canadians' personal information. However, his party voted in favour of Bill C-13, which represents a major threat to protecting Canadians' personal information. He himself voted in favour of Bill C-51, which truly poses serious risks to personal information protection, since it allows our personal information to be shared among a number of government agencies without any parliamentary or judicial oversight. It is very disconcerting.
I am confused. Does the hon. member want to protect personal information or is it not as important as all that?
Adam Vaughan Liberal Trinity—Spadina, ON
Mr. Speaker, I thought the member could hear from my comments that it is never an either-or total proposition. There are changes that are constantly required to protect public safety, just as there are changes constantly required to protect the public's charter rights. We rely and depend heavily on our courts to protect those charter rights.
In the situation of the legislation that was referred to, sometimes there are elements in an omnibus bill that one supports and other parts one fights to change. One continues to work toward the change.
I will give an example. Civilian oversight to me is a fundamental principle. I know there is a private member's bill before the House that advocates for civilian oversight of security forces. What we could not achieve through committee we are going to continue to fight for in the House, and we will continue to fight after the next election as well.
Yes, there are ways of framing an issue as being perfectly black or perfectly white, perfectly this or perfectly that, but when it comes to public safety, public charter rights, and the way in which we guard our civil liberties, it is a nuanced position that is constantly being evolved and crafted.
I share the concerns of the opposition party down the aisle on this issue. We cannot simply let legislation lie still and hope it defends rights. We must constantly re-evaluate it. There must be sunset clauses in provisions like this one. There must be civilian oversight.
As parliamentarians we need to agree where we agree and disagree where we disagree, but we must never lose sight of the fact that constant vigilance on this file is the only way it is going to be made right. Having an independent judiciary is fundamental to that as well. Those are the principles I think we can agree on while we sometimes disagree on specific parts of specific legislation.
Lawrence Toet Conservative Elmwood—Transcona, MB
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in my place today to express support for Bill S-4, the digital privacy act, which was first introduced in April of last year. The digital privacy act would make important changes to Canada's private sector privacy law, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, or PIPEDA, to better protect the privacy of Canadians.
I would like to spend my time highlighting the measures in Bill S-4 that are designed to better safeguard the privacy of minors and protect vulnerable members of our society. In our modern digital economy, it is absolutely critical that we make sure our children have safe and secure access to online resources.
Being digitally literate is no longer merely nice to have; it is now a necessary prerequisite for young Canadians, whether to be successful in school or to find their first job. In fact, a recent survey revealed that in 2013, 99% of Canadian students were able to access the Internet outside of school.
While there are many benefits to being digitally connected, going online can also expose our children to risks. As we have unfortunately seen, young people can become targets of online intimidation and abuse. Our government has acted to protect our children from cyberbullying and other similar threats through Bill C-13, the Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act. This bill, which came into force on March 9, 2015, ensures that all Canadians can freely access the Internet without fear of victimization.
Bill C-13 protects children and adolescents from online predators and exploitation. Provisions of the bill permit and empower the courts to penalize those who harass, intimidate, exploit, or threaten others online or through telecommunication devices. In other words, Bill C-13 serves to counter cyberbullying in Canada.
The Government of Canada takes cyberbullying very seriously and supports a no-tolerance framework. In January 2014, our government launched the anti-cyberbullying national awareness campaign called Stop Hating Online, which raises awareness of the impact of cyberbullying and how this behaviour amounts to criminal activity.
We have also taken further steps to protect children from online predators. Our government has invested $14.2 million a year through the national strategy for the protection of children from sexual exploitation on the Internet. In addition to Bill C-13, our government has implemented other concrete measures to keep young Canadians safe online and in their communities. Such measures include increasing the maximum penalties for luring a child online, strengthening the sentencing and monitoring of dangerous offenders, and strengthening the sex offender registry, to name only a few. All of these initiatives align with our government's commitment to stand up and protect Canadians.
Bill C-13 was introduced to provide a safe and secure environment for Canadians online, and the digital privacy act seeks to accomplish this as well. In this rapidly growing digital world, we must be aware that going online can expose vulnerable Canadians to privacy risks. For example, minors can be subject to aggressive marketing tactics or can have their personal data collected and shared without them truly understanding what is being done and the potential long-term privacy consequences.
To address this concern, the digital privacy act includes an amendment to clarify requirements for the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information. Specifically, the bill clarifies that when a company is seeking permission to collect, use, or disclose personal information from a group of individuals, such as children, it must take the necessary steps to ensure that, as a group, these individuals are able to understand what would happen to their personal information. In practice, this means that the organization's request for information must be presented in a clear and concise manner and must be appropriate for and easily understood by the target audience. This includes making sure the wording and language used in the request are age-appropriate.
Let me take a minute to give an example explaining to the members of the House how this would work. Let us say that an online service designed for children wishes to gather information about who visits their site. In order to seek consent, the company would be required to design and present its request to collect, use, and disclose information using language that a child could reasonably be expected to understand. If a child could not be expected to understand what the website seeks to do with their information, the child's consent would not be valid. As a result, consent from a parent would need to be sought.
The Privacy Commissioner expressed his strong support for this amendment when appearing before the standing committee. This is what the Privacy Commissioner said:
I think with the clarification that Bill S-4 provides, it is a useful clarification of what consent is, and it has the potential of improving the situation for the issue of consent sought from children....
There are additional amendments in Bill S-4 that are also designed to better protect the interests of other vulnerable individuals. I would like to bring to the attention of hon. members two particular amendments that would allow information to be more easily shared in emergency situations.
The first of these amendments would allow organizations to share personal information in order to contact a family member of an injured, ill, or deceased individual. The importance of this amendment was well summarized by the representative of the Canadian Pharmacists Association in her appearance before the standing committee when she said:
Pharmacists, as well as any health care provider, may find themselves in the difficult situation of having to deal with patients who may be severely ill, unconscious, or incapacitated for any number of reasons. In such circumstances it may be imperative for the pharmacist or other health professional to immediately contact family members or next of kin to inform them of the patient's condition, or to seek valuable information on the patients' medical history. But seeking permission or consent to contact those individuals in advance may simply not be reasonable nor in some cases possible. This clause would provide pharmacists and other health care providers with the comfort and knowledge that in the case of a severe health emergency they will not be in contravention of PIPEDA for acting in the best interests of their patients by contacting next of kin or authorized representatives.
The second of these amendments would allow information to be shared in situations such as accidents or disasters, in order to assist in the identification of injured, ill, or deceased individuals. For example, this would allow dentists to provide an individual's dental records to authorities in order to identify victims of a natural disaster.
These two amendments are clearly in the public's interest and are long overdue.
The government is committed to protecting the privacy of Canadians. The digital privacy act would take necessary actions to protect the most vulnerable members of our society, including children.
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
Mr. Speaker, I very much appreciate the comments of my colleague from Elmwood—Transcona on this very important act.
I wonder if the member could expand on exactly how our government is helping to protect Canadians' personal information by mandating that organizations inform their clients when personal information is lost or stolen.
The reason I ask is that I know the people I serve in Winnipeg South Centre are very concerned about this issue, and so I would like to know what we are doing on it.
Lawrence Toet Conservative Elmwood—Transcona, MB
Mr. Speaker, it is very important that we have this protection and the mandating of organizations to inform their clients when their information has been lost or stolen. It is critical that Canadians know if their personal information has been lost or stolen, so they can take the necessary actions to protect their privacy going forward.
Organizations would have to tell individuals what steps they need to take, and would also guide them through the process and the actions they need to take to make sure of their credit card PIN, for example, or email password, if that had been compromised. They would not only have this ability but would be walked through the steps necessary to protect their privacy. This is very important.
It should also be noted that organizations that do not comply with this measure would face some very significant penalties—up to $100,000 for every individual they fail to notify. Obviously, this would make corporations and organizations very aware of the fact of keeping this information private in the first place, because they do not want to be facing fines of $100,000 each. That can add up very quickly if they have the data or information of many Canadians compromised in their system.
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
Mr. Speaker, I am less interested in the speech that my colleague was given to read into the House of Commons today and more interested in hearing his views about the fact that the bill is labelled “S-4”, which means it did not originate in the House of Commons; it originated in the Senate.
In my view—and I would like the view of the member for Elmwood—Transcona, to see if he agrees with me—senators have no legitimate right to introduce legislation. No one elected them to be legislators. In fact, they are appointed, usually because they were good fundraisers on behalf of their party. They were hacks and flacks and fundraisers, and they get rewarded with this lifetime sinecure in the other place.
For God's sake, how did we ever get to the point where we are debating legislation that they have developed? How have we slipped to this, in the status of our parliamentary democracy, that it is the House of Commons' job, that the elected representatives, the duly, democratically elected representatives in the House of Commons, have to end up debating legislation that was put together by a bunch of unelected, undemocratic, and under indictment half the time, senators?
Does he agree with me that there is something fundamentally wrong with this picture? Will he stand up on behalf of his elected colleagues in the House of Commons and say the bill has no legitimate right to be in the House of Commons, never mind the points he was making about its relative merits?
Lawrence Toet Conservative Elmwood—Transcona, MB
Mr. Speaker, I am not quite sure whether it is a question. It sounded like quite a long rambling commentary of somebody who has been in this House for a long time and should have a clear understanding of the rules and how the rules in this House and in Parliament work.
If he still has not understood that after these many years, I do not think that in the minute you have given me, Mr. Speaker, I am going to be able to educate him on that.
With respect to the bill, though, this is a bill that is very important. I did outline in my statement some of the great things it would do to protect our young people and the vulnerable in our society, and I will continue to support any legislation that would protect the vulnerable in my riding of Elmwood—Transcona
Jinny Sims NDP Newton—North Delta, BC
Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure today to rise and speak to Bill S-4.
As my colleague mentioned a couple of minutes ago, I too have very serious concerns that here we are in a parliamentary democracy with elected MPs sent here by their constituents to do the work of Parliament, and Conservatives have brought forward a bill introduced by the unelected Senate. It sort of begs this question. What was the real agenda behind doing this? Was it to fast-track it? Was it to try to give the Senate some sense of credibility as it goes through some very difficult and challenging times?
Nevertheless, it is about process, and now that I have made my point, I also want to make the point that in Parliament, as my colleague across the way pointed out, there is a natural rhythm as to how bills are introduced in the House and debated. The government, in its wisdom, first took a Senate bill instead of spending the time, of which it has a lot, to bring forward its own bill. It took a Senate bill and, even before second reading, basically declared that it was not willing to accept any amendments, which really makes one wonder what the purpose has been behind a lot of legislation.
Now I know that my colleagues across the way have an allergy to evidence, science, and data and do not really like listening to all the expert witnesses that are flown in to appear before committees. The interesting thing is that even before they heard from those witnesses, they started to make comments such that they did not want to accept any amendments because if they did, the bill would have to go back to the Senate. It does not seem to me to be a good reason to bring forward legislation that is poorly thought out.
I am not saying it is not needed. It is.
As a matter of fact, my esteemed colleague from Terrebonne—Blainville introduced Bill C-475, which would have actually addressed many of the concerns that Canadians want addressed. That is an example of a well-thought-out bill that would not overreach but would actually do the job that is needed, which is to modernize our code of conduct around personal information. With the advent of electronic and digital media, we absolutely need some changes.
Getting back to the bill, once again, it is a process that is flawed. Experts came forward and gave testimony. I sometimes wonder, if the government's mind is already made up that it is not going to accept any amendments, what the purpose is of flying in experts to present their testimony. To me, that is the highest sign of disrespect. It basically says the government has already made up its mind, but just to make witnesses feel better, it will hear from them. That is really bad form.
Here is something else. The NDP put forward 18 amendments, well thought out and researched, supported by the evidence that was presented and by experts; and other people presented 14 other amendments. True to their commitment or the bizarre statement before the bill got debated, there were zero amendments accepted by my colleagues across the way. So much for committees working with consensus.
I have often heard ministers from the other side of the House say they have to rush things through the House because at committee stage experts will be heard and that is when we get to have the really meaty debates. I have never bought that, and evidence bears out that it is not how committees work. Despite hearing expert witnesses and hearing from the opposition, the Conservative government accepted zero amendments, and that says a lot about the process.
Now the bill is back in the House, and we are debating it, but once again, there is time allocation. The government could have moved on the bill over the last number of years, but it chose not to. Here we are in the last three weeks, when suddenly the Conservatives have rediscovered that they had better do something. After all, it is election time. They are now moving time allocation to prevent the Canadian public from knowing what is really in the bill. One way to do that is to limit and shut down debate, which seems to be a very common move by the government.
Here are some facts and figures. The Conservatives made 1.2 million requests to telecommunication companies to obtain Canadians' personal information in just one year. Some 70% of Canadians feel less protected today than they did 10 years ago. With this bill, they have reason to feel even more concerned and worried, because now there are all kinds of loopholes in the bill whereby their information can be shared way beyond the person they give it to.
Some 97% of Canadians say they would like organizations to let them know when breaches of personal information occur. That is reasonable, but if companies are giving away data themselves, I personally see that as a breach, because they have breached my trust, because I gave the data to them. We have some concerns around that as well. Some 80% of Canadians say they would like the stiffest possible penalties to protect their personal information, and 91% of respondents—not 51%, not 41%, not 21%, but 91%—are very or extremely concerned about the protection of privacy. It seems to me that the government should be paying some attention to what Canadians are feeling and their fears.
There was also a Supreme Court ruling, on June 13, 2014, pertaining to the sharing of personal information. The Supreme Court stipulated that subscriber data, including name, address, email address, phone number, ID address, et cetera, cannot be disclosed to a third party without a warrant. In light of this decision, the constitutionality of certain provisions in Bill S-4 is questionable.
I am sitting here thinking that a government that really wanted to do due prudence would actually pay attention to the fact that the Supreme Court had made a ruling. Despite that ruling, we did not see any amendments from the Conservatives, nor were they willing to accept any of ours, which really lets me know that to pander to their friends, they are willing to sell out Canadians, they are willing to ignore the Supreme Court ruling, and they are burdening hard-working taxpayers with future challenges in the courts, because that is where this will certainly end up.
The NDP believes that Canada needs a mandatory data loss or data breach reporting mechanism based on objective criteria. We are not the only ones who are saying that. Witness after witness said that we need the Privacy Commissioner to have some powers over this.
Huge companies get our data through nefarious means, some of them very innocent, like when we pay bills with a credit card. They not only get what we paid and where we bought something but all that micro-targeting information can now be moved on to other companies when a company deems fit. To me, that is just not acceptable.
I would urge my colleagues across the way to not ignore Canadians or the Supreme Court ruling. Let us make sure that we address the deficiencies in this bill.
Anne Minh-Thu Quach NDP Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech on defending privacy and people's personal information.
Through Bill S-4, the Conservatives are making a third attempt at talking about privacy protection, but they missed the mark yet again. As my colleague pointed out, the opposition parties, including the NDP, proposed a number of amendments, but the Conservatives categorically rejected them all.
Some of the amendments would have prevented companies from determining whether or not privacy has been breached and whether or not complaints should be addressed. We want a third party to take care of this in order to keep the process transparent and effective.
We are also calling for the Federal Court decision to be complied with so that information shared between companies is better protected and Canadians' personal information cannot be shared without their permission.
Bill S-4 does not do any of that. We are talking about a very serious breach of privacy. The current Privacy Commissioner raised some concerns about this. This bill still has a number of major flaws.
I would like my colleague to comment on that.
Jinny Sims NDP Newton—North Delta, BC
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my hard-working colleague for the very thoughtful question. There is nothing more important than one's private information. There is some information people just do not want to share with other people. We have insisted on removing the provisions in Bill S-4 that would allow organizations to share personal information without Canadians' consent and without a warrant. We have also said that there are loopholes in this bill that need to be addressed. We tried to address them with amendments, but of course, we were ignored.
However, we are not the only ones who are saying that. Here is a quote from Michael Geist, who is a law professor at the University of Ottawa:
the broad provision that we have here opening the door to massive expansion of non-notified voluntary disclosure without any of the kinds of limitations that we typically find even the courts asking for should be removed.
He has also said:
While the government has claimed that this provision should not concern Canadians, the reality is that the broadly worded exception will allow companies to disclose personal information to other companies or organizations without court approval.
It is a lack of transparency, a lack of disclosure, and a lack of reporting requirements and believing that these companies can police themselves. Surely we have learned lessons from other situations. There are some glaring omissions in this bill, and they should be addressed.
As a matter of fact, Michael Geist even says, “[This bill] is both not well studied and ought to be fixed. Canadians deserve better”.
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
Mr. Speaker, it is important to me that anyone watching this debate today keep in mind that there is nothing normal about the way the Conservatives ram through their aggressive legislative agenda.
First, there is nothing normal about the House of Commons debating a bill that originates in the Senate. There is nothing normal about the Conservatives moving closure on every single piece of legislation they introduce. Sometimes the same day they table the legislation, they move closure on the legislation.
It undermines everything that is good and decent about our parliamentary democracy to see these guys systematically strip down all the checks and balances, all the controls put in place to make the Westminster parliamentary democracy one of the best systems in the world. It should offend the sensibility of anyone who calls himself a democrat to realize that these guys have not allowed a single amendment to a single piece of legislation in the entire 41st Parliament. They do not respect Parliament.
I want any Canadian tuned in today to know that this is not normal. This will not be tolerated. We have to restore everything that is good about our parliamentary democracy and stop the current Conservative government in its tracks before it does more irreparable damage and harm.
Pierre Dionne Labelle NDP Rivière-du-Nord, QC
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House today to speak to a bill, perhaps for the last time in this 41st Parliament. I would like to thank the interpreters, who have helped us so much these past four years, as well as the team of clerks and pages and everyone who supports our work every day.
In the digital age, privacy is extremely important. It often feels as though I have a clone that is wandering around computer networks with information on my life, my past, my present, my sexual orientation, my purchases, my consumption and my travels. All of these data are like a twin over which I have no control. That is a problem.
Unbeknownst to me, my twin goes from company to company, government agency to government agency. No one will inform me that an agency is using the information my clone carries to determine how it will approach and deal with me.
A number of distinguished analysts who testified obviously told us that this bill could be challenged by the Supreme Court. The court recently ruled that a warrant was required to access the personal information and IP addresses of customers of Internet service providers. It is therefore highly likely that a number of provisions in this bill will be challenged by the Supreme Court.
The Conservative government has a strange relationship with the Supreme Court. This will not be the first time that a bill has ended up before the Supreme Court. Under the Conservative government, we have gotten used to seeing bills that, according to experts and parliamentarians, violate our charters and our laws. These bills risk being challenged by the Supreme Court and, in fact, they are being challenged. The government has suffered many defeats, and yet again it is risking being put in its place.
Introducing these constitutionally weak bills is a real waste of time. How insulting it is to the intelligence of the members of this Parliament and the members of civil society who give their input on these issues. What contempt it shows for our institutions and the Canadian Constitution.
The Conservatives have botched the drafting of dozens of bills. Take Senate reform as an example. Everyone knew that that measure would be declared unconstitutional, because 50% of the population would have had to agree, but the government went ahead with the measure anyway.
As for the appointment of Justice Nadon, everyone said that it would not work. The appointment was challenged, and Justice Nadon was ineligible under the Supreme Court Act. The matter still had to go to court, but everyone knew how it would end. Once again, it was an insult to the intelligence of parliamentarians and the experts who were advising us.
Another example is the repatriation of Omar Khadr. Two Federal Court rulings and a Federal Court of Appeal ruling ordered his repatriation, but the government still took the matter to the Supreme Court. What happened? The Supreme Court of Canada upheld that young man's rights and even said that they had been violated since he was captured in 2002. The government's attitude puts it at odds with civil society, the opposition members and the Supreme Court.
We told the House that mandatory minimum sentences were not constitutional. The government pushed ahead anyway. What happened? The Supreme Court said that the opposition was right and that these sentences were not constitutional. The Federal Court of Appeal had come to the same conclusion, but the government did not listen to that court.
The government tried to close safe injection sites by passing a law. What happened? The Supreme Court found that the site in Vancouver could continue to operate without the risk of criminal prosecution. The government's refusal to grant an exemption to InSite violated the right to life guaranteed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This once again showed the Conservative government's contempt for our institutions, the Canadian Constitution and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The Conservative government also lost its case before the Supreme Court regarding the retroactive application of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act. It was not constitutional to do away with accelerated parole review. Those who challenged it were granted parole. The NDP told the House that the measure would not work and that it violated the Canadian Constitution and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The government did not listen. It went to the Supreme Court and lost once again.
Another case that the government lost before the Supreme Court is the case regarding the Canadian securities commission. We told them that setting up a Canada-wide commission would not work since that is an area of provincial jurisdiction. The government did not listen to us and said that it was going to set up the commission anyway. The government went to court and the Supreme Court told the government exactly what the opposition had told the House. What is more, the Supreme Court suggested that the government take a co-operative approach. This government has failed to co-operate with the provinces, as we have seen with the TFSAs in the latest budget. By 2080, that measure will cost the provinces $34 billion. Did the government discuss that with the provinces? Did it seek to co-operate with them? Not at all.
I am getting to my last and main point: Internet users' privacy. The issue is whether searching through people's personal information is lawful or not. I am reiterating this because the government has to understand that it cannot use any pretext whatsoever to search through people's personal information: the police need a warrant to obtain the name, address and telephone numbers associated with a subscriber's IP address. The Supreme Court has told the government that.
We are debating Bill S-4, which could still go to the Supreme Court. How do we know? We listen to the experts. Not all members claim to be experts in law, computer issues and general issues that apply to data management. People appeared before the different committees, in the Senate and the House of Commons, to explain why the current version of this bill is weak. We spoke about Michael Geist earlier. In his testimony, he said that although the government claimed that Canadians should not worry about this provision, this exception will let companies share personal information with other companies or organizations without the court's authorization. That is one of this bill's flaws. He added that the failure to require transparency, disclosure and accountability with respect to the communication of information without a warrant was a glaring omission in this bill.
This is not the first time that we have told the Conservatives that their laws are flawed. They are unconstitutional. Here again, provisions will be struck down by the court. Why not fix this now? Why waste time, money and energy in the Supreme Court just to be slapped on the wrist again? The Conservatives have been slapped on the wrist 10 times by the Supreme Court. They may want to continue. Perhaps systematically going against Canada's Constitution and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is part of their political agenda. That seems to be the case. The Conservatives do not like the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, because in the case of the 10 laws that I mentioned, the Conservatives went against the charter.
Is there someone who can read it and interpret it properly? Why not listen to the opposition once in a while?
David Sweet Conservative Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON
Mr. Speaker, I want to inform my colleague that the Supreme Court specifically noted that PIPEDA does not give any special search and seizure powers and that information can only be shared with law enforcement when it is legally able to be requested and obtained.
I also want to let the member know that in every meeting of the industry committee, I was in attendance. I chair that committee. I heard witness after witness. Each witness had differing opinions about some aspects of the bill, but when asked by my colleagues on the committee, all of them said that they would prefer to have the bill pass and move forward and have some kind of update on PIPEDA.
I wonder if my colleague might consider what all of the witnesses said. They said they would like to see the bill move forward, and it would obviously come back to the government with more improvements later.
Pierre Dionne Labelle NDP Rivière-du-Nord, QC
Mr. Speaker, parliamentarians are concerned about how personal information is handled, and what I read in the testimony in no way reflects the opinion that the hon. member just expressed.
We demand that the government withdraw the provisions in the bill that allow companies to share information on subscribers without a warrant and without their knowledge or consent because the constitutional validity of those provisions is dubious and they are a threat to Canadians' rights and privacy protection. That is what we want.
Pierre-Luc Dusseault NDP Sherbrooke, QC
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech.
I would like him to comment further on the government's attitude toward the opposition's ideas given that the government rejected all of the amendments the opposition put forward.
We warned the government of the dangers inherent in various bills studied by various committees over the past four years.
Can my colleague comment on the government's marked tendency to reject all ideas from parties other than its own and the threat such an attitude can pose to the constitutionality and effectiveness of the bills introduced and debated in the House?
Pierre Dionne Labelle NDP Rivière-du-Nord, QC
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his question. I would like to commend him for the excellent work he is doing in his riding, as well as the member for Terrebonne—Blainville if I may, who also helped us understand this very complex, multi-faceted bill.
The Conservative government likes to provoke the opposition and the Supreme Court by always pushing the limits imposed by our institutions. The Conservatives always think they are right. They are blinded by their ideology, which also makes them immune to any arguments presented by experts in various domains.
It is no coincidence that the Conservatives have made huge cuts to the sciences since 2011. They do not like to hear the opinions of experts; they would rather hear an opinion that lines up with their ideology.
However, it does not always work that way in the real world, which is fortunate, because we have institutions that are stronger than the Conservative Party of Canada.
Tilly O'Neill-Gordon Conservative Miramichi, NB
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak to Bill S-4, the digital privacy act. The bill would make significant improvements to Canada's private sector privacy legislation, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, or PIPEDA.
One aspect of the digital privacy act that has not received a lot of attention is how the bill would help reduce red tape for businesses. Reducing red tape for Canadian businesses saves money and helps encourage greater investment in our economy. I would like to focus my comments today on these important changes.
We must always bear in mind that strong privacy legislation is not just good for everyday Canadians; it is also good for businesses. In our rapidly evolving digital economy, personal information is becoming increasingly valuable, creating tremendous new opportunities for businesses to innovate and develop new products and services.
Canadians will not provide their private information to businesses if they do not trust that it will be protected. At the same time, if the rules are too cumbersome and complex for businesses to manage and show no clear benefit to consumer privacy, then companies will struggle to implement them. It is for these reasons that the digital privacy act proposes a number of common sense changes to help businesses protect privacy in a way that does not hinder their ability to conduct business.
All of these changes make sense. They were all identified by the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics when it conducted the first statutory review of PIPEDA back in 2006. Businesses have been waiting a long time for these changes, and it is important that we move now to implement them. I would like to briefly touch on each of these important changes.
The first changes are in relation to business transactions. Currently, if a company wants to examine personal information as part of its due diligence—for example, if a business is thinking of buying a magazine and would like to look at the list of current subscribers—it first needs to obtain the consent of each individual subscriber. This requirement not only presents a tremendous burden for the company but is also often impractical, given the confidential nature of most prospective business transactions.
Bill S-4 fixes this problem by creating an exception to the requirement for consent that would allow businesses to share information in this context. This must be done in such a way that the privacy interests of those involved are protected.
Under the digital privacy act, information could only be shared for the purpose of assessing the feasibility of the transaction. If the transaction did not proceed, the information would have to be destroyed or returned. If the transaction did proceed, then the individuals would have to be informed.
This amendment would implement a recommendation made by the standing committee during the first statutory review and is modelled after a similar exception that is currently in place in Alberta and British Columbia under their private sector privacy laws.
In addition, the amendment has widespread support among stakeholders. Ms. Éloise Gratton, a lawyer with the Borden Ladner Gervais law firm, appeared before the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology. She said:
I offer my support to two important provisions in the bill: mandatory breach notification and business transaction exception.
The next important amendment I would like to highlight is the change to how business contact information is dealt with under PIPEDA. Currently, certain types of business contact information are not defined as personal information. Specifically, a person's business title, address, and telephone number are not considered personal information and are therefore not regulated.
As was pointed out during the first statutory review of PIPEDA, this would present an obvious problem: only a few bits and pieces of information are considered to be business contact information under PIPEDA. A person's work email address or fax number or their LinkedIn account or a business Twitter handle are all considered personal information.
The digital privacy act would correct this problem by creating a technology-neutral definition of “business contact information”. It would do this by being inclusive of all types of communication points of contact, such as social media applications like Twitter and LinkedIn. With this change, a sales manager would now be allowed to share an employee's work email address with a client without having to get permission first. This would create a better balance between protecting privacy and allowing information to flow in a digital economy. At the same time, the act would continue to protect business contact information if it is used outside of a business context.
Another important amendment in the digital privacy act would be the clarification around the rules for when someone's personal information is included in their work product. An example would be when a garage mechanic signs off on a vehicle's inspection or a work estimate. The fact that the mechanic signs off on the estimate would mean that it now contains his personal information.
Currently, under PIPEDA, a business must obtain an individual's consent to use or share any work product he or she creates if it contains the individual's personal information. Again, this seems like a rather silly and unnecessary bit of red tape. Bill S-4 would fix this problem by ensuring that businesses can use their employees' work without getting the employees' consent.
Finally, the digital privacy act would ensure that insurance companies can use witness statements when assessing or processing any insurance claim. Witness statements provided to the police or other investigating authorities may contain personal information. For example, if I were to witness someone running a red light that results in a car accident, my statement to the police would include personal information. Currently, under PIPEDA, an insurance company processing any claims for the accident would need to get the consent of anyone named in my witness statement in order to use it. Such a requirement would create the potential for someone who breaks the law to use privacy as a shield to avoid responsibility for his or her actions.
The digital privacy act would fix this problem with an amendment that would enable an organization to obtain a witness statement without having to obtain the consent of an individual whose personal information is contained within it. However, this experience would only apply when the information is necessary to assess, process or settle an insurance claim.
In addition to strengthening privacy protection in Canada through measures like mandatory data breach reporting and stronger enforcement powers for the Privacy Commissioner, which had been discussed extensively in this place, the digital privacy act would also make a number of important changes that would cut red tape for Canadian businesses.
I hope hon. members will join with me in supporting a balanced and carefully considered bill that would dramatically improve Canada's privacy law.
Charmaine Borg NDP Terrebonne—Blainville, QC
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?
Tilly O'Neill-Gordon Conservative Miramichi, NB
Mr. Speaker, I assure the member opposite that our government takes the privacy of Canadians very seriously. That is why we introduced the digital privacy act, which contains important new protections for Canadians. Based on the testimony heard at the industry, science and technology committee, our government believes that we have struck the right balance in this bill.
We take the privacy of Canadians seriously, and so do Canadians right across our great country. I want to share a quote from a well-known Canadian, the current Privacy Commissioner. He stated:
I am greatly encouraged by the government's show of commitment to update the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, and I generally welcome the amendments proposed in this bill.
