Charmaine Borg

[Digital Privacy Act, October 20th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I listened to my Liberal colleague's speech with great interest. He seems to be very concerned about protecting Canadians' personal information. That is something we should all be concerned about.

However, when it came time to vote, the Liberal Party supported Bill C-13. I am perplexed. They seem to be saying one thing but voting another. Can the member clarify whether the Liberals plan to support Bill S-4? They are saying one thing now, but will they change their minds when it is time to vote?

[Petitions, October 20th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the third petition calls on the Government of Canada to ensure that the old Saint-Maurice shooting range is decontaminated within a reasonable time frame and that the wetlands in the Saint-Maurice shooting range are protected and preserved.

[Petitions, October 20th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition calls on the government to fully co-operate with the provinces and territories to negotiate a new health accord by 2014. This petition is also signed by a number of my constituents. Last Saturday they got together and went door to door on this issue. I am very proud of that.

[Petitions, October 20th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I have several petitions to present today.

The first petition calls on the government to reject the plan to cut services at Canada Post and to explore other avenues to modernize the crown corporation's business plan. The people of Terrebonne will be affected by the changes and by the elimination of home delivery in the spring or summer of 2015. They are very concerned about this.

[Digital Privacy Act, October 20th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, during her speech, the member shared a few quotes from the Privacy Commissioner.

However, as is common practice with the Conservative government, she obviously forgot to mention some other things that the Privacy Commissioner said.

I have two quotes to share. The first quote states:

First, we believe that the grounds for disclosing to another organization are overly broad and need to be circumscribed, for example, by defining or limiting the types of activities for which the personal information could be used.

The second quote states:

Allowing such disclosures to prevent potential fraud [as provided for in paragraphs 7(3)(a.1) and 7(3)(a.2)] may open the door to widespread disclosures and routine sharing of personal information among organizations on the grounds that this information might be useful to prevent future fraud.

Does the member have anything to say about the negative points raised by the Privacy Commissioner? What is her government going to do to fix these problems in the bill?

[Digital Privacy Act, October 20th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I have another question for my colleague.

The government's bill is called the Digital Privacy Act. However, we now know that the Conservative government does not have the best record in the world when it comes to protecting privacy. It lost track of a significant amount of Canadians' personal information. It passed Bill C-13, which gives statutory immunity to Internet service providers who decide to voluntarily hand over personal information. There is no shortage of examples: government agencies made at least 1.2 million requests to Internet service providers in just one year.

Does the hon. member not have any misgivings about this? Will the government really make good changes during the review of this bill in committee?

[Digital Privacy Act, October 20th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for taking part in today's debate. He spoke at length about the Spencer decision and the impact it will have on this bill. I would like to know if he has heard from his constituents regarding privacy protection.

Does he think we should proceed with this bill as it stands, with the clause that allows organizations to share personal information with other organizations without a warrant and without consent? Does he think that this bill is constitutional is its current form?

[Digital Privacy Act, October 20th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I have one last question. We know that the Senate has already examined this bill. I do not like when bills come from the Senate, but that is how it is. The Liberal Party has Liberal senators or senators who are Liberals—who knows what to call them?

My question is this: did the Liberal Party senators try to improve this bill? They had the chance to do so. I am curious to know how hard the Liberal senators tried to improve this.

[Digital Privacy Act, October 20th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for her response.

She said that the Liberals hope to make a real difference by examining the motion in committee. In her speech, she also mentioned that it is somewhat difficult to trust this government when it comes to information protection. We have seen how little regard the various departments have for the privacy of Canadians. They have no issue with picking up the telephone and asking Internet service providers for personal information about their clients.

Is my colleague worried that instead of moving ahead and fixing the problems and flaws in this bill, the government is going to take a step backwards? I would like to hear her comments on that.

[Digital Privacy Act, October 20th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my Liberal colleague for her speech.

I am pleased that she raised some of her concerns about Bill S-4, in particular the negative impact it may have on the privacy of Canadians. All of the concerns that she mentioned were also raised by the Liberals during the debate on Bill C-13. However, in the end, the Liberals supported the government bill designed to spy on Canadians.

I would like to know if we can expect the same thing from the Liberals this time as well?