Industry committee  Yes, I can. I worked for a number of years in a jurisdiction where I did not have order-making powers, and it was fraught with challenges when bodies would refuse recommendations, and the only recourse was for the public to go to court, and of course that was unlikely to happen.

Industry committee  In Alberta, the political parties are expressly excluded from the application of our private sector privacy law, PIPA. I don't know off the top of my head whether or not there are privacy provisions in election acts; there usually are. We are looking at this as part of our recommendations for our PIPA review, and we will be recommending that political parties be subject to the Personal Information Protection Act, so I'll have occasion at that point to look at our Election Act and see what controls are in there.

Industry committee  Thank you, yes. We here in Alberta have three privacy laws, actually. We have the private sector privacy law that covers everything except for aspects of our non-profit sector. We have our public sector privacy law that operates similar to what Mr. McEvoy just explained, and we also have the health information law that governs the health sector in our province.

Industry committee  I think that my colleagues have covered it quite well. Several years ago, the federal privacy commissioner in Alberta developed a “building blocks for privacy management” program, which we have referred to since its inception. I think it was 2015. There are requirements in PIPEDA.

Industry committee  Good afternoon. I would first like to thank the committee for inviting us here today as witnesses to your proceedings on Bill C-27. This bill is an important step in modernizing Canada’s private sector privacy law. It would support responsible innovation and development of innovative technologies while adequately protecting privacy rights.