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Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon speaks to reporters ahead of a federal cabinet meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on March 12.Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press
The Carney government intends to introduce new measures covering how political parties manage Canadians’ personal information, after the Senate pushed back on a bill that exempts parties from provincial privacy law.
But the House of Commons still wants to pass Bill C-4 as is and rejected Thursday the Red Chamber’s amendments.
The proposed legislation primarily deals with tax cuts promised by the Liberals during last year’s election, and which are already in force but still need to be put into law.
The final section of the bill, however, relates to how political parties keep Canadians’ information secure.
That part of C-4 drew sharp criticism in the Senate for not going far enough to hold parties accountable for privacy. It ultimately decided to add a sunset clause into the law, so its privacy provisions would be time limited.
Senate seeks time limit on political parties’ privacy law
The government, however, rejected the amendment Thursday while promising it will address the issues.
“I think that’s the best way to go: have elected people govern the elections,” said Government House Leader Steve MacKinnon Thursday morning ahead of the bill coming back to the Commons.
The motion responding to the Senate’s amendment said there is a long tradition of the Senate deferring to the House of Commons on amendments to the Canada Elections Act, and that is what C-4 does.
“The House respectfully disagrees with the amendment made to the bill by the Senate, because Parliament should be the body that decides the rules that govern communication by federal parties with Canadians,” the motion said.
It also promised change.
“The government intends to bring forward additional privacy provisions and legislative changes to the Canada Elections Act within this parliamentary session,” the motion said.
Federal parties downplay privacy concerns in Bill C-4
Federal political parties aren’t covered by private-sector privacy law. That means, among other things, that voters have no right to access, change or delete the information the parties hold on them.
It also means that the Office of the Privacy Commissioner can’t play a role in the event of a data breach, an issue that could affect not just voter data but that of candidates who hand over troves of personal information when they run for office.
The privacy measures in Bill C-4 were inserted in relation to a court case in British Columbia on whether provincial privacy law should apply to federal parties.
The province’s Privacy Commissioner believes that law should apply, but the Liberals, Conservatives and NDP have argued otherwise.
The privacy measures in C-4 seek to make it clear that the Canada Elections Act is the only law that covers parties and privacy, and makes that change retroactively.
The bill would also legislate requirements for political parties’ privacy policies.
Green Party MP Elizabeth May was the only MP to speak up about the government’s motion Thursday.
She called the proposed changes in C-4 scandalous for being inserted into a tax-cut bill and not being studied properly.
“I think the government should be ashamed,” she said.
“Every Liberal, every floor-crosser who joins this gang should be ashamed of being associated with a piece of subterfuge as vile as saying this is an act on affordability.”
