Federal political parties undermine privacy and democracy

Bill C-4 seeks to undermine Canadians' privacy rights in the troves of data held by federal political parties.

A BC court case, about to be heard next week, would potentially grant or affirm that Canadians have the same privacy rights we all expect everyday from businesses and government from federal political parties as well.  

The federal Liberal party, with the support of the other major federal political parties, will erase those rights with the passage of Bill C-4, which would undermine any rights that might be affirmed by that case by making any provincial laws, BC's Personal Information Protection Act, inapplicable to federal political parties.  

It is astounding, and yet not surprising at all (federal parties have engaged in repeated similar efforts), that federal political parties would seek to undermine rights so crucial to democracy in this way.  

Federal parties must truly fear public revelations about the personal data that they hold, what they are doing with that data, and/or any threat to the datified campaigning methods they use. 

See my recent appearance on Michael Geist's Lawbytes podcast here, recent parliamentary testimony here (from the previous effort last parliamentary session to accomplish the same goal), and past related blog posts on political parties and privacy here.