Canada’s Bill C-4 promises to make life affordable for Canadians, but one measure would exempt political parties from provincial privacy laws. And privacy advocates are sounding the alarm.
Canada's political parties want to be exempt from provincial privacy laws
By Carly Penrose
Advocates are sounding the alarm about a little-discussed measure in the Liberal affordability bill that would exempt federal political parties from privacy laws.
Bill C-4, officially called “An Act respecting certain affordability measures for Canadians and another measure,” was put forward by Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne last year and includes major campaign promises like changing income tax rates, temporarily reducing GST on new homes and officially repealing the carbon tax.
But the “other measure” is what has privacy advocates concerned. The bill includes amendments to the Canada Elections Act that would exempt federal political parties from provincial and territorial privacy laws governing the collection and use of Canadians’ personal information, unless the party’s policy for the protection of personal information provides otherwise.
