Carney government hands new privacy provisions to yet-to-be-established digital regulator

OTTAWA — The federal Liberal government will be handing responsibilities for enforcing new privacy provisions to the recently announced digital regulator that will steer the government’s online safety regime.

Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon said that for years the government has faced calls about the need for a standalone tech regulator that would come equipped with stronger enforcement powers to levy penalties and enhance Canadians’ safety online.

“We believe that it’s very important to set up a robust commission that has those enforcement powers and that’s what we’re doing, in as quick a manner as possible,” he told reporters on Monday.

“We think Canada needs that kind of independent regulator.”

The creation of a new regulator was announced last week, when Heritage Minister Marc Miller tabled the Safe Social Media Act, which proposes requiring social media platforms and companies operating AI chatbots to take additional steps to reduce users’ exposure to different types of harms and adhere to a social media ban for children under 16 unless an exemption has been granted.

Solomon tabled the Protecting Privacy and Consumer Data Act on Monday, the most significant overhaul of Canada’s privacy regime in more than two decades, which will be implemented by the same regulator and will be built with specific privacy expertise.

“They were written before the iPhone,” he said of the existing rules.

Senior government officials, who briefed reporters on a not-for-attribution basis, described a significant overlap between privacy issues and tech regulation, which is why the new digital regulator would assume responsibility for both.

One official used children’s data as an example, given that it touches on both privacy rights and the use of age-appropriate design principles by platforms that would limit the collection of such information and its intended use.

Solomon and officials confirmed that the Privacy Commissioner of Canada would focus its efforts on how the federal government handles private information. The bill tabled on Monday seeks to hand over the power to investigate and enforce privacy rules within the private sector to the new regulator, dubbed the Digital Safety and Data Protection Commission of Canada.

Last week, government officials told reporters that it was expected to take upward of 18 months for the new regulator to be fully operational. The government, however, retains the ability to put new provisions into force before it is completely up and running.

Monday’s privacy bill specifically targets the handling of children’s information, proposing that such material be considered “sensitive,” as well as surveillance pricing. It also makes it a rule that companies use plain language when it comes to obtaining an individual’s consent for using their information.

When it comes to surveillance pricing, Solomon described the legislation as a “principle-based bill” that grants the proposed regulator the power to define rules around the practice, “if the harms outweigh the benefits.”

He said he would be seeking advice from that regulatory body on what those rules ought to be. The minister explained why his government was not moving ahead with an outright ban on the practice of surveillance pricing by pointing to the fact that many Canadians use reward points to purchase food and other products at a lower cost.

The Chamber of Progress, a tech industry group, welcomed that balance.

“I think Canadians will welcome a new privacy right, but the real test is whether this bill protects people’s data without making digital services less useful,” Josh Tabish, senior director for Canada, said in a statement.

Solomon also highlighted that the legislation proposes giving Canadians the ability to request that a company delete their personal information, including AI and other electronically generated “deepfakes,” made in an individual’s likeness.

The legislation does not propose specific timelines for when personal information would have to be removed, but does allow organizations to make a case for why a request ought to be refused.

The tabling of the Liberals’ new privacy bill comes after Prime Minister Mark Carney and Solomon recently announced the government’s strategy for AI, which emphasized the importance of safety, while also touting an approach that encouraged more mass adoption, viewing it as an opportunity to create thousands of more jobs and promising to offer AI literacy to Canadians.

National Post

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