By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – The Senate transport and communications committee today unanimously adopted an amendment introduced by Senator Julie Miville-Dechêne that will add a right to privacy clause in the proposed Online Streaming Act, which would empower the CRTC to further regulate digital entities.
“This approach would be similar to that taken in the Telecommunications Act,” federal privacy commissioner Philippe Dufresne said when he appeared in front of the committee in September. “It would ensure that privacy is fully taken into account in the interpretation and application of the bill, both by the CRTC and by regulated entities and the courts.”
When asked if the privacy commissioner had been consulted, Thomas Owen Ripley, associate assistant deputy minister of cultural affairs at Canadian Heritage said, “Our recollection is that the privacy commissioner was not formally consulted before the introduction of the bill.”
Conservative chair of the committee Leo Housakos was upset by the revelation.
“Honestly, we know that all pieces of legislation are imperfect, but when something of this nature, that will be impacting hundreds of thousands of Canadians, if not millions of Canadians, there wasn’t a simple effort made to get in writing a concrete opinion from the privacy commissioner, both the former and the new incoming one, it really causes one to shake their head.”
The sponsor of the bill, Dennis Dawson, a member of the Progressive Senate Group, offered that the government intended to introduce a similar amendment, but admitted that, “The government listened to the commissioner who appeared before the committee. We’ve had many meetings, many consultations, and we’ve heard a lot of testimony. We have listened to him and then we will bring forward an amendment that will meet your criteria. It’s never too late to do it right, so we have this duty of a second objective review.”
The next meeting will be held on Wednesday.
