44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 28, 2023 10:00AM
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has met with far worse individuals than I have ever met with. I can tell the member this. As a member of Parliament, it is my duty to have meetings—
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. All members are honourable members. The member just said that the Prime Minister had met with worse people than she had. I would like her to name them.
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- Mar/28/23 1:41:28 p.m.
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That is getting into debate.
The hon. member for —Norfolk, from the top.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has put on blackface so many times that he has degraded Black people. He literally put a banana in his pants, and the member has the audacity to stand and look at me, as a Black woman, and ask about my meeting with another member of the European Parliament. That is within my job description. I do not have to approve of everything in which another member believes in order to have the decency to have meetings with other individuals.
The Prime Minister denigrated Black men by putting a banana in his pants. Shame on every member over there who does not chastise him. If this were any other country, he would not be leading. He would not have the moral authority to lead.
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Mr. Speaker, to bring it back to the topic of this debate, Bill C-27, the intention of the bill is to modernize the protection of digital privacy rights in Canada. The previous iteration of the bill was roundly panned by stakeholders when it was introduced in the previous Parliament. However, in this new version, Bill C-27, the government has added a few new elements, for example, regulating artificial intelligence.
Unfortunately, there are so many different elements within the bill that nobody can actually address all the issues within a 10-minute speech, so I will focus on the privacy issues that are sorely lacking within the legislation.
The bottom line is that the new bill, Bill C-27, remains fundamentally flawed and is, simply put, a redux of the former bill. Essentially, what it would do is put lipstick on a pig.
The dramatic and rapid evolution in how we gather, use and disseminate digital information in the 21st century has presented the global community with not only a lot of opportunities but significant challenges as we try to protect society and individuals against the unauthorized use of their data and information. This directly implicates the issue of privacy and the various Canadian pieces of legislation that address the issue of privacy.
This is not the first time the Liberal government has tried to “fix” a problem, and I use that term advisedly. It tries to fix things, but just makes things worse. In the 21st century, we are faced with immense challenges in how we protect individuals, our Canadian citizens, against those who might misuse their data and information. Any suggestion that this digital charter is actually an articulation of new rights is simply wrong. This is a digital charter, but it is not a digital charter of rights.
I will turn to the most significant and substantive part of the bill, the privacy elements. Very little of this legislation has been changed from the original Bill C-11, and the government has not measurably responded to the criticism it received from the stakeholders when the previous version of the bill was reviewed at committee.
There are five key additions and alterations to Canada's existing privacy protection laws.
First, the bill expressly defines the consent that Canadians must give in order for their data and information to be collected and used, and there are guidelines attached to that. We commend the government for doing that clear definition of consent.
Second, Bill C-27 addresses the de-identification, the anonymization of data that is collected by private companies. Again, that is important. We want to ensure when private businesses collect information from consumers that this information is not attached to a specific individual or citizen.
Just to be clear, the bill contains numerous broad exemptions, which we could probably drive a truck through, and will likely create the loopholes that will allow corporations to avoid asking Canadians for permission.
Third, the bill provides that all organizations and companies that undertake activities that impact the privacy of Canadians must develop codes of practice for the protection of the information they collect.
Finally, the act would create harsher financial penalties, up to $25 million, for a violation of Canadian privacy rights. We, again, commend the government for doing that.
However, let me say for the record that what we do not support is the unnecessary creation of a new personal information and data protection tribunal, which is another level of bureaucracy that would add more layers of complexity, delays and confusion to the commissioner's efforts to enforce privacy laws.
Canada is not alone in expressing concern over the risks that digital information and data flows represent to the well-being of Canadians and our privacy rights. Many other countries are grappling with the same issue and are responding to these threats, and none more so than the European Union. The EU has adopted its general data protection regulation, the GDPR, which has now become the world's gold standard when it comes to privacy protection in the digital environment.
The challenge for Canada is that the EU, which is a market of over half a billion well-heeled consumers, measures its willingness to mutually allow sharing of information with other countries against the GDPR, the standard it has set. Those who fall short of the rigour of that privacy regime will find it difficult to conduct business with the EU.
Do our current regime and this legislation measure up to the GDPR from the EU? No, probably not. In fact, for years Canada's digital data privacy framework has been lagging behind those of our international counterparts. The problem is that if we do not meet the standard, we will not be able to do the kind of business with the EU we expect to. As someone who played a part in negotiating our free trade agreement with the European Union, I know it would be an absolute travesty to see that work go to waste because our country was not willing to adopt robust privacy and data protections.
I note that, as is the custom with our Liberal friends, the bill creates more costs for taxpayers to bear. There is a creation of new responsibilities and powers for the commissioner, which we support, but this legislation calls for the creation of a separate tribunal, a new layer of bureaucracy and red tape that small and medium-sized enterprises will have to grapple with.
There are other unanswered questions. Why does this legislation not formally recognize privacy as a fundamental right? Regrettably, as presented, Bill C-27 misses the opportunity to produce a path-breaking statute that addresses the enormous risks and asymmetries posed by today's surveillance business model. Our key trading partners, especially the EU, have set the bar very high, and the adequacy of our own privacy legislation could very well be rescinded by the EU under its privacy regime.
Thirty-five years ago, our Supreme Court affirmed that privacy is “at the heart of liberty in a modern state”, yet nowhere in this bill is that right formally recognized. Any 21st-century privacy regime should recognize privacy as a fundamental human right that is inextricably linked to other fundamental rights and freedoms. By the way, I share the belief that as a fundamental right, it is not appropriate to balance off the right to privacy against the rights of corporations and commercial interests. Personal privacy must remain sacrosanct. When measured against that standard, Bill C-27 fails miserably.
I have much more to say, but I will wind down by saying that this bill is another missed opportunity to get Canada's privacy legislation right by consulting widely and learning from best practices from around the world. There is a lot riding on this bill, including the willingness of some our largest trading partners to allow reciprocal data flows. This bill is not consistent with contemporary global standards.
The Centre for Digital Rights notes that this legislation “fails to address the reality that dominant data-driven enterprises have shifted away from a service-oriented business model towards one that relies on monetizing [personal information] through the mass surveillance of individuals and groups.” That should be a wake-up call to all of us. Sadly, this bill fails to listen to that call. Let me repeat that there is a move toward monetizing personal information through mass surveillance of individuals and groups, and the government has not yet recognized that.
For those reasons, I expect the Conservatives will be opposing this bill and voting against it.
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Mr. Speaker, I switched from ChatGPT to Bing, since I also wanted to test that platform. I asked Bing, in connection to what my colleague from Abbotsford was saying, what the consequences of not legislating on the content of Bill C-27 would be.
It gave me an interesting answer, namely that, essentially, it could have an impact on the protection of data provided by companies.
Not legislating and not acting right now will therefore lead to more data losses unless we establish a framework, which is one of the aims of Bill C‑27.
By playing all these games in the House to waste time and stop us from passing Bill C‑27, are the Conservatives not putting Quebeckers' and Canadians' personal information at risk?
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No, not at all, Mr. Speaker. We are certainly not trivializing Bill C-27. In fact, right now it is only the Conservative members of Parliament who are speaking to it. This is the most important issue of privacy and protecting the privacy of Canadians within an emerging digital environment. I am disappointed that my colleague from the Bloc does not take this issue seriously enough to get up in this House and debate it. It is important that we get this right.
What we have is a redux of the old bill the Liberals brought forward. It was so roundly castigated and panned at committee that the minister had to go back to the drawing board. However, he has come back with essentially the same milquetoast legislation, which does not address the most critical parts of protecting the privacy of Canadians.
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Mr. Speaker, I have great respect for my colleague and great interest in the issue of making privacy a fundamental human right.
One of the shocking things we found with the last bill was from the Privacy Commissioner. He ruled that the company Clearview AI had broken Canadian law by allowing all manner of photographs of Canadian families, individuals and children to be sold on a market with facial recognition technology. He called that out as illegal but told us that under the new law, it would be almost impossible for him to go after Clearview AI because his rulings could be overturned by a board the Liberals will appoint above him.
We trust our Privacy Commissioner and we need to protect privacy. I want to ask my hon. colleague why he thinks the Liberals are undermining privacy at this time.
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Mr. Speaker, I have mutual respect for the member. We are both from the class of 2006, I believe.
Mr. Charlie Angus: It was 2004.
Hon. Ed Fast: Mr. Speaker, yes, 2004. He has a couple of years on me.
I agree with him 100%. What has happened is the government, in order to protect its right to interfere in protecting the privacy rights of Canadians, has established a tribunal that could override the commissioner's investigations of violations of privacy rights within Canada.
The member mentioned the Clearview AI situation. He is absolutely right that it was a fundamental breach of our privacy rights. However, there are Canadian companies like Tim Hortons that have also violated Canadians' privacy rights. That is why it is important that we get this right and not put through a milquetoast bill that will not achieve what we want and that allows the Liberal government to continue to interfere and protect its big business buddies.
I just mentioned the importance of making sure our privacy rights are protected in an era when data is being monetized. Canadians' own personal information is being monetized by corporate interests. We need to make sure that our rights are protected, and this bill does not go far enough.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the hon. member a question about clause 5 of the bill. Clause 5 is the purpose section and is probably the most important section of any bill, as it sets out the reason for the legislation. That is the section where the government says an individual's rights are equal to a business's right to use people's personal information. That is the section, in my view, that needs to be amended to make a personal privacy right a fundamental right.
I wonder if the member could comment on why it so important to put a fundamental right in that section of the bill.
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Mr. Speaker, it is an excellent question because that is the fundamental failing of Bill C-27. We have an opportunity, once and for all, to express and codify Canadians' right to have their personal information and data protected. Typically, that kind of statement of purpose goes into the purpose section. It is completely missing from that section because we know the Liberals are not really serious when it comes to protecting Canadians' privacy rights. We can do better than this.
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Mr. Speaker, this legislation is all about protecting the rights and privacy of Canadians. I am surprised that this member, more so than any other Conservative member, has been very clear in saying the Conservative Party of Canada opposes this legislation. Am I to believe that the Conservative Party will be voting against allowing the legislation to go to committee?
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Mr. Speaker, the member should know what the parliamentary process calls for. Bills that come forward to this chamber have the opportunity to be considered at committee. We then call in witnesses and stakeholders from across the country to express their views on legislation. It is within that context that I have expressed serious reservations about the legislation as it is currently drafted.
I expect we will allow this bill to go to committee, and hopefully the Liberal government will do what it so rarely does: listens to the stakeholders, listens to the witnesses and then makes the fundamental changes to the legislation that I have referenced. That could make this a salvageable bill and allow us to vote in favour of it.
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- Mar/28/23 2:00:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Scarborough is home to a Grey Cup champion. On Sunday, at Scarborough Town Centre, Toronto Argonauts running back Daniel Adeboboye brought the Grey Cup home to Scarborough, signing autographs and posing for pictures with fans.
As part of the 2022 Grey Cup champion Argos, Daniel was a nominee for the league’s most outstanding special teams player, and is an inspiration to our local youth. He took the time to speak with all of the kids and encourage them to reach for their dreams.
Daniel grew up in Scarborough, and also on hand were his proud parents, Pastor Tai and Marian Adeboboye of Wilmar Heights Baptist Church.
Daniel Adeboboye reminds Scarborough youth that, with hard work and determination, all is possible.
I thank Daniel for bringing the Grey Cup home, and say, “Let's go Argos.”
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- Mar/28/23 2:01:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as members of Parliament, we stand in the House of Commons for the good of the common people, for their paycheques, their savings, their homes and their country. However, in order to work for the common people, one must have common sense.
With 40-year high inflation, families are having to make common-sense decisions each and every day about their budgets, and they expect the government to do the same by getting by with what it already has, reining in spending, imposing no new taxes and improving the services Canadians are already paying for. Families have to make those decisions each and every day, with respect to grocery items, whether or not the children play sports, and cancelling family vacation plans.
However, the Prime Minister is displaying none of the common sense Canadians are, with his $6,000 hotel rooms and the $162,000 Jamaican vacation plans, while Canadians are cutting back and expecting common sense from the government.
We need a new Prime Minister who displays real leadership and real common sense, and looks after the common people.
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- Mar/28/23 2:02:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, an attack on the international rules-based order that Canadians fought and died to build, has underscored the importance of multilateral alliances such as NATO. It has also highlighted the urgent need for NATO allies to advance innovative defence and peacekeeping systems to protect the alliance against hostile actors. It is in this evolving security environment that NATO is establishing a network of innovation sites in North America and Europe.
After a team Atlantic effort, the Minister of National Defence announced earlier this year that the government will submit Halifax as the host city for the NATO Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic, or DIANA.
There is no better choice. Halifax, with its thriving ecosystem of entrepreneurial science and technology start-ups, universities and research centres, and Canada’s Atlantic naval fleet, is the right place for DIANA. This is a major deal for the Halifax region. Once ratified by NATO, it will mean investments and jobs, and growing our innovation and tech sectors, all while supporting the NATO alliance.
I thank everyone who was part of the campaign to make this happen.
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- Mar/28/23 2:04:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the anniversary of an organization that has been serving Rivière-des-Mille-Îles for 50 years. I am talking about the Centre d'entraide Racine-Lavoie.
The centre supports the autonomy and development of low-income individuals and families by offering a variety of services and activities. Year after year, the Centre Racine-Lavoie offers a variety of services, including a tax clinic for people who cannot afford professional services, a community kitchen to promote healthy eating, a lunch prep workshop, an eye-care program called “Bonhomme à lunettes” that offers affordable vision care, talks on many themes, and the list goes on.
The Centre d'entraide Racine-Lavoie is much like a close-knit family that prizes the values of sharing, support and solidarity.
Congratulations to the team at the Centre d'entraide Racine-Lavoie on this milestone.
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- Mar/28/23 2:05:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to highlight the performance of our Laval athletes at the 56th Quebec Games finals, which were held from March 3 to March 11 in Rivière‑du‑Loup. They won eight gold, six silver and 11 bronze medals. They make us proud.
The performance of young Liam Schmidt from Alfred-Pellan deserves special recognition. At the age of only 14, Liam gave us an extraordinary performance, beating the Quebec Games record in novice figure skating with a score of 92.2.
He said, “I am surprised to have beaten the record, I am really proud and I will continue to work hard.” In addition to being an extraordinary athlete, he has shown us that Quebec youth have talent, determination and hope.
Congratulations to Liam for his incredible performance. I urge him to continue doing what makes him happy.
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- Mar/28/23 2:06:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, today I would like to acknowledge a significant accomplishment by a Canadian angler who has made our nation proud. Jeff Gustafson of Kenora has made history by becoming the first Canadian to win the Bassmaster Classic, a prestigious tournament in the sport of professional bass fishing.
With a five-pound, 12-ounce lead going into the final round over American John Cox, Gustafson managed to boat just two fish that weighed a combined six pounds, 13 ounces, to edge his opponent and win. What a spectacle it was. Gustafson's win is a testament to the hard work and dedication of Canadian anglers, who continue to showcase their skills on the world stage.
Conservatives know that fishing is more than just a hobby for many Canadians; it is a way of life. We take pride in our Canadian heritage and we celebrate Gustafson's win with him. May his achievement inspire generations of Canadians to continue to celebrate our heritage and the great outdoors through the sport of fishing.
To Gussy, I say, “Way to go”.
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- Mar/28/23 2:07:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, March is National Engineering Month. As a fellow engineer, I want to acknowledge the invaluable work engineers do in my riding of Surrey—Newton and of course in the riding of my colleague, a dear friend and fellow engineer and the Minister of Transport, the riding of Mississauga Centre, as well as in communities throughout Canada.
Presented by Engineers Canada, the annual campaign is designed to spark an interest in youth and the next generation of engineering professionals, while celebrating the role engineers play in our daily lives. The theme for this year’s National Engineering Month is "There's A Place For You in Engineering", which highlights the inclusive nature of the profession and showcases its diversity in perspectives, opportunities and people.
To all those considering joining the profession, I can proudly say that there is a place for them in engineering.
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