Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government has quietly slipped a major privacy exemption for political parties into Bill C-4—legislation that’s supposed to focus on affordability measures.
The move gives political parties the green light to collect, use, and share Canadians’ personal information without being bound by federal or provincial privacy laws. Even more shocking: the change is retroactive to the year 2000.
According to internet law expert Dr. Michael Geist, this is a direct response to a B.C. court case that applied provincial privacy rules to federal political parties. That case is heading to appeal later this month, but the federal government seems determined to kill it off by rewriting the rules before it’s heard.
Instead of tackling this issue transparently through privacy legislation or the Elections Act, Ottawa buried it in a budget bill (sneaky, sneaky). And unlike previous failed attempts to address this (such as Bill C-65), Bill C-4 strips away even the modest safeguards that were proposed last time—there’s no requirement to report data breaches, no ban on selling personal data, and no oversight from privacy commissioners. Yikes.
When Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne posted on X about Bill C-4, he made zero mention of these privacy rules snuck in.
Under Bill C-4, political parties must simply publish a privacy policy, appoint an internal privacy officer, and vaguely describe what data they collect and how. There are no limits on what they can do with personal information. And there’s no recourse for Canadians if their data is misused, explained Geist.
“This is a stunning assault on Canadians’ privacy,” said Geist, slamming the discovery. “Political parties already harvest enormous amounts of data. Now, they’re being granted a 25-year retroactive free pass with almost no accountability.”
Critics say the government is undermining Canadians’ trust and weakening democratic protections by shielding political parties from the same privacy rules that apply to businesses and other organizations. Now how’s that for transparency and accountability?
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C-2 attacked privacy too
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne – effin' weasel.
Keep voting Liberals Canada but don't be surprised when one day you wake up speaking Chinese.
We get it, you're not that bright.
Meanwhile Doge just got access to everyone's social security info in the US. They have, of course, used Trump and Musk logic (so none) to figure out that SSI has been paying out to people since before the program was even enacted. Having billions doesn't automatically make someone' smart. A lot of people in the US are about to be homeless so the rich get richer.
Neither one of these parties is a great pick. I'll still take the one that doesn't use Chat GPT to come up with tariffs imposed on other countries. Maybe if Pierre actually knew how to read the room the conservatives would have more seats.
Wouldn't expect anything less from this liberal government.