The Senate passed an amendment Thursday to Bill C-4, inserting a sunset clause on provisions that exempt political parties from provincial privacy laws.Blair Gable
The Senate wants to put a time limit on proposed Liberal legislation related to how political parties safeguard Canadians’ information, with one senator calling the issue a test of how serious the government is about protecting people’s privacy.
Late Thursday night, the Senate passed an amendment to Bill C-4 to insert a sunset clause on the provisions that exempt political parties from provincial privacy laws and that establish a federal privacy regime.
Senator Pierre Dalphond proposed the amendment, which would see the new measures expire after three years. He said that gives the government time to put in place a robust privacy regime for political parties while addressing the initial justification for the law.
If the government rejects the amendment, it sends a message, he said in a statement to The Globe and Mail.
“It will mean that political parties are unwilling to recognize important privacy rights of Canadians with regard to their collection and use of personal information on voters.”
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Bill C-4’s primary focus is three tax cuts central to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s campaign pitch to voters last year. But the fourth part deals with political parties and privacy law.
What led to those provisions is a B.C. court decision that provincial privacy law applies to federal parties.
The Liberals, Conservatives and New Democrats disagree and have appealed.
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The parties argue that they are governed by the Canada Elections Act, and that the C-4 amendments are necessary to make it clear they do not have to comply with all of the different provincial regimes.
But Mr. Dalphond and other senators have said the part of the act setting out federal privacy rules for the parties doesn’t go far enough. For example, they do not require parties to report privacy breaches, do not legally prohibit the selling of personal data and do not give enough investigative tools to the Commissioner of Canada Elections.
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Critics of the measures also point out there are few repercussions for parties if they fail to adhere to their privacy policies, and there is no legal way for Canadians to find out what information the parties have on them.
Senators have also expressed frustration that the measures were tacked onto an unrelated affordability bill and given little scrutiny by the House of Commons.
When the Senate amends a government bill, the legislation then returns to the House of Commons. MPs must decide whether to accept the revisions.
It was unclear Friday morning when the House will deal with the proposed changes to C-4.