The Senate of Canada building in Ottawa. Senators plan to offer a rare rebuke of the government over a bill that includes unrelated policy changes.Blair Gable
Senators did not block the government’s effort to shoehorn privacy rules for political parties into an affordability bill, but they plan to formally criticize the move when the bill is up for third reading.
The Senate finance committee agreed Tuesday to adopt a contested section of Bill C-4 “on division,” which signals that section of the bill does not have unanimous consent.
Their report back to the Senate will also include an explanation of their concerns with the proposed privacy regime for political parties.
Senators are expected to tack on a formal rebuke to the government over its use of a tax-cut bill for an unrelated matter.
The decision taken by the Senate finance committee on Tuesday morning broke with the recommendations from the legal and constitutional affairs committee that the privacy provisions be struck entirely, carved out for future study or time-limited.
But that committee’s report will be included in the report the finance committee sends on the bill, senators agreed on Tuesday.
The decision to place concerns on the record with how the government has handled legislation is a rare move for the Upper Chamber.
It is expected to be followed by a stand-alone report on the government’s use of omnibus legislation in general, an issue raised by senators during debate over C-4.
The bill is primarily focused on legislating three major tax cuts that were a centrepiece of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s pitch to voters in the spring.
But the fourth part of the bill seeks to amend the Canada Elections Act to, among other things, make it clear that political parties aren’t subject to provincial and territorial privacy laws.
That section of the bill was not publicized when the legislation itself was tabled in June.
Federal political parties are not subject to the kinds of rules around gathering and using data that govern private companies.
For example, while the parties must have privacy policies, they don’t have to tell Canadians what data they hold on them. Nor is there a legal requirement to report data breaches.
The decision to legislate an approach is linked to a pending B.C. court case exploring whether federal political parties are subject to that province’s privacy rules.
The three main federal parties have argued they are not, but lost the original case and have since appealed.
The government, as well as the political parties, have said the legislation is about making the jurisdiction over political parties clear.
The proposed changes in C-4 would bring privacy rules for federal parties under the Canada Elections Act and set out privacy standards.
But senators said those proposed standards weren’t given enough attention by the House of Commons, and the Senate’s legal and constitutional affairs committee launched a targeted study.
Representatives from the Liberals, Conservatives and New Democrats told senators they already have privacy policies in place, and adhere to them, saying the bill is necessary to prevent parties from having to follow a patchwork of provincial rules.
Privacy and transparency experts argued, however, the federal measures aren’t sufficient in an era of big data and parties should be required to have robust systems in place – and be able to be held more accountable for how they use Canadians’ information.
With the Senate finance committee’s approval, the bill will now go back to the Senate for third reading, where it could still be amended.