Industry committee  What I'm saying is that this is a problematic granting of authority to the government to carve out parts of the act.

Industry committee  This section...I'm not comfortable with it. I'm recommending that it be modified so that the authority would be more narrow. As indicated in my submission, there's another section elsewhere in the act, which is highlighted in my submission, where, again, a whole activity can be removed altogether from the bill.

Industry committee  I've given that to you today in my opening statement. I've listed five outstanding ones that the minister has not yet agreed to.

Industry committee  Those would be the top priority, starting with the notion of a privacy impact assessment for generative AI. To me, that is a major shortcoming. If you look at AIDA and if you look at the minister's proposed amendments to AIDA, you see a lot of discussion about risk mitigation, identifying risk and managing risk.

Industry committee  One of the concerns that's been expressed publicly, as I understand it, is that too much responsibility or authority is going to a single body, in other words, my office. Since the bill provides the authority to issue orders and significant fines, more procedural fairness may be warranted.

Industry committee  Certainly. On the previous question, it is section 20 of the tribunal act that would give the ability to award costs in accordance with the tribunal's rules. In terms of the recommendations that the minister has signalled agreement with, the first is the recognition of privacy as a fundamental right.

Industry committee  The second is recognizing strengthened protection for children's privacy. This is one where I had recommended amending the preamble. The minister agrees and goes further. He proposes to amend clause 12 on “appropriate purposes” to include children's privacy there. I am supportive of that additional recommendation.

Industry committee  That's number two. Number three is to provide more flexibility for my office—

Industry committee  I was listing them in the order that the minister had them. If you prefer, I can give you the numbers in my recommendations.

Industry committee  My number one recommendation on fundamental rights has been accepted. The number two recommendation on children's privacy has been accepted. Recommendation number 12 is to “provide greater flexibility in the use of voluntary compliance agreements to help resolve matters”. Recommendation 15 is not explicitly in the annex.

Industry committee  That's right.

Industry committee  I've identified four. Those are the four—number one, number two, number 12 and number 15. The minister did allude to other themes in his letter. He talked about the exceptions, but he was not as definitive.

Industry committee  Currently, the bill gives my office the authority to issue orders. Most cases would probably involve the use of orders instead of administrative monetary penalties. The bill does a good job of prescribing the use of penalties. It lists the factors that must be taken into account, including the organization's approach and diligence, and whether it complied with a certification program.

Industry committee  My understanding of the situation involving the Competition Bureau is that the tribunal made an order for legal costs and expenditures in the context of that litigation. That is an ability that courts have in litigation. That is an ability that I understand the tribunal would have.

Industry committee  Our recommendation is actually twofold. We feel that adding a preamble is a step in the right direction. It refers to international instruments and all sorts of things. You can look to the preamble in case of ambiguity, even if it doesn't have the binding force of a provision of a statute.