Hon. Marty Klyne: Honourable senators, I rise to speak to Bill C-4, which is somewhat of a bill with a bill attached, like a hitchhiker.

Bill C-4 is entitled the “Making Life More Affordable for Canadians Act.” Its main focus is taxation and cost-of-living relief. Yet attached to this financial legislation is something entirely different in both nature and impact: a provision that exempts federal political parties from provincial privacy laws, confirms their exemption from meaningful federal privacy protections and applies this exemption retroactively for decades. This measure was not part of the government’s election platform, and it is unrelated to the affordability provisions at the heart of Bill C-4.

We all know that this provision for federal political parties was not the subject of robust debate in the other place. It was not the focus of the public conversation surrounding this bill. Yet its implications are seemingly significant and enduring.

Federal political parties in Canada are already exempt from the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, known as PIPEDA, and they are not subject to the Privacy Act.

I offer two recommendations, given the direction we’re heading and if Part 4 is to remain. The first recommendation is that the Office of the Privacy Commissioner be empowered with the authority to independently audit their data practices or enforce compliance. The second recommendation is that Elections Canada should also be able to require parties to publish privacy policies, but it has no authority to ensure those policies, as yet, meet those enforceable standards, and that’s up to the government to provide them.

The path forward is clear. The offices of the Privacy Commissioner and the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada must be empowered with real authority to independently audit political parties’ data practices and enforce compliance. Elections Canada must also have the power to require parties to publish privacy policies and ensure that those policies meet enforceable standards. Thank you.