The Canadian Chamber of Commerce is urging the Prime Minister to split in two his government’s lawful-access bill, warning that the current version of the legislation would put Canadian businesses at a competitive disadvantage with the U.S. and EU – and could even drive them to leave the country.
In a letter to Mark Carney this week, the chamber warns that the bill risks undermining growth and economic progress. Considering the U.S. trade war with Canada, the letter says, “the timing couldn’t be worse.”
The lawful-access bill, known as Bill C-22, would require telecoms, internet companies and other electronic service providers to make changes to their systems to give surveillance and monitoring capabilities to police services and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
CSIS and law enforcement have long argued that Canada is lagging behind its Five Eyes intelligence partners – the U.S., Britain, Australia and New Zealand – in not having such a lawful-access regime to aid investigations.
But the Chamber of Commerce, in its letter to the Prime Minister, said Canada’s proposed lawful-access regime “goes considerably further in several critical areas” than comparable frameworks in the United States and the European Union.
Unlike in those other jurisdictions, Bill C-22 could lead to companies being forced to retain customers’ metadata for up to six months, while creating liabilities to be borne by Canadian industry “if a law-enforcement intrusion undermines system integrity,” the letter says.
The letter from Matthew Holmes, executive vice-president of the chamber and its Chief of Public Policy, warns Mr. Carney that Canadian companies, rather than risking compromising encryption and their customers’ privacy, may choose to move abroad.
“In some circumstances, the rational business decision may simply be to move systems or operations outside Canada,” the letter says. “Businesses make investment decisions by weighing risk against reward.”
The letter urges the Prime Minister to put the second part of the bill on a slower track to allow greater consultation with industry, while allowing the first part of the bill, which does not include the lawful-access provisions, to continue its passage through Parliament.
The bill is currently in the Senate after being rushed through the commons-committee stage by the government, to the consternation of Conservative MPs.
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At committee, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree introduced a number of changes to the bill, in response to criticism from tech companies, lawyers and civil-liberties advocates. One amendment made it clear that a company that does not have a key to encryption would not have to decrypt information it holds.
Simon Lafortune, spokesperson for the minister, said in a statement on Thursday that the government welcomes “engagement from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce on this matter.”
He said amendments to the bill in the Commons “further clarified that service providers cannot be required to break encryption or introduce systemic vulnerabilities.”
“As the Senate considers the bill, we remain open to constructive engagement with stakeholders and potential amendments that strengthen its protections while preserving its objectives,” he added.
On Thursday, tech giant Apple renewed its critique of the bill, saying that despite government amendments before the summer break, C-22 could weaken encryption, undermine its Canadian customers’ privacy and pose a threat to cybersecurity.
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Apple said in a statement: “While we appreciate attempts to improve C-22, the bill could still undermine Apple’s ability to offer the powerful privacy and security features our users expect from us, including encryption, even as AI and other evolving technologies provide hackers with new tools to exploit cybersecurity weaknesses.”
The chamber, in its letter, recommended a number of surgical amendments to the bill, including scrapping a requirement for companies to store customers’ metadata for up to six months. The chamber proposed that a line be added to the bill stressing that nothing in it “is intended, or may be used, to limit or otherwise prevent the use of any type of encryption within Canada.”
It also suggests that the lawful-access framework recently proposed in the EU creates an approach to lawful access that would expedite the production of electronic evidence to combat crime, while ensuring judicial oversight.
The chamber wrote that it would work with Mr. Carney’s ministers to develop a “truly Canadian approach to lawful access” that gives police forces the tools needed to investigate criminals “while ensuring Canadian data, systems and businesses remain secure and globally competitive.”