Canadian VPN and cybersecurity companies are warning that Ottawa’s lawful-access legislation could still push tech businesses out of the country, even after the federal government amended the bill to address privacy and encryption concerns.
Windscribe CEO Yegor Sak told The Globe and Mail that Bill C-22 remains unacceptable for companies built around privacy and security.
“Bill C-22 makes Canada an untenable place for most tech companies to operate in, foreign and domestic,” Sak said. Windscribe, which is based in Toronto and has more than 100 million registered users worldwide, previously warned it could leave Canada over the legislation.
Tailscale is raising similar concerns. About 40 percent of the VPN provider’s global team is based in Canada, but CEO Avery Pennarun said the company may need to restructure parts of its business if the bill isn’t changed further.
The warnings come as 20 tech companies and industry groups have written to Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree and Industry Minister Mélanie Joly urging additional amendments to Bill C-22.
The legislation would require telecom, internet and other digital service providers to maintain systems capable of responding to lawful surveillance requests from police and CSIS.
Ottawa already amended the bill to explicitly protect end-to-end encryption and cut the maximum metadata retention period from one year to six months. The companies say that still leaves too much risk, after Google, Apple, Meta and several VPN providers previously raised concerns about encryption and cybersecurity.
“A backdoor for law enforcement is a backdoor for everyone,” the industry letter says, warning that new interception systems could create additional targets for criminals and foreign adversaries.
Nord Security, the company behind NordVPN, also said the six-month limit doesn’t resolve broader concerns around cybersecurity and encryption. Proton VPN has also spoken out against Bill C-22, while DuckDuckGo previously threatened to pull its VPN from Canada if the legislation passed without major changes.
Bill C-22 has passed the House of Commons and is now headed to the Senate, where the companies are hoping for further changes.
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