Industry committee  All right. I think that goes to the recommendation on making sure that the business activities are defined very carefully, that they are all necessary, and that you remove the ability to make exceptions by regulations without showing that they're necessary. The recommendation, in terms of clarifying and highlighting the fundamental right, has to be in the purpose clause, but it should also be in a preamble in the law, not just in the bill but also in the law itself, so that when people read it, they have—

Industry committee  It's crucial to ensure that the regime can be met by small and medium enterprises, absolutely. The bill provides for a role for my office in terms of guidance. It provides the ability to join in certification programs and codes of practice. It's something that has to be taken into consideration.

Industry committee  We need to make sure that the law will hold up despite the rapid evolution of technology, if not with it. There's a lot of talk about generative artificial intelligence right now. A year from now, it'll be even more powerful. Who knows? So the law has to be able to adapt. That's why the bill contains principles and doesn't talk specifically about generative artificial intelligence, for example, but rather about automated decisions.

Industry committee  That would be the model, in fact, that exists in Quebec and that exists internationally. In fact, the GDPR—which, as you know, is the regulation that applies to the European Union—states that the DPAs, which would be the privacy commissioners, have the ability to issue fines. In the recital, in the description of this, they're talking about the DPAs issuing the fines, and they're generally reviewed by the courts.

Industry committee  I could, and as I think you heard, this was an issue that came up with the departmental officials. I would agree with the departmental officials' answer to that question, which was that they are comparable and in some instances higher than our comparators in Europe, in terms of the percentages.

Industry committee  In terms of collaboration with my office, we treat individual complaints case by case. We've seen situations in which we're making recommendations and they are complied with. Sometimes they are not. In terms of pure obstruction that would rise to the level of criminal offences, I'm not aware of any.

Industry committee  Currently, if we look at proposed section 5, the purpose provision talks about the “rules to govern the protection of personal information in a manner that recognizes the right of privacy of individuals with respect to their personal information and the need of organizations to collect, use” and so on.

Industry committee  I think that putting in the preamble a recognition of privacy as a fundamental right in this way, with this amendment, clarifies the superior nature of the right that we're talking about, which is consistent with the treatment of it internationally and by the courts in Canada.

Industry committee  I believe that the bill sets out strong disposal protections for the information of minors, and it will also be interpreted as such by my office, because sensitivity is a factor I have to consider.

Industry committee  What I don't have right now is the ability to recommend—let alone issue—a fine in that situation, because the proposed section 12 is not part of the offences—

Industry committee  My office has to be able to act quickly, so all the tools should be available.

Industry committee  We cannot in terms of fines. That's why we need the ability to have compliance agreements that would include financial considerations, to have purpose violations as eligible for fines and to adopt the tribunal situation so it doesn't add delay to the process....

Industry committee  Delay is not desirable in the context—

Industry committee  My view is that adding a level of review to the process will add a delay and a cost, and so I've given two options to solve that.

Industry committee  I'm talking about this in the context of financial penalties. I will have under this bill the ability to issue orders, so there will be no delay to the order part. I can order an organization to stop a practice and to stop a collection, so—