CCLA’s Submission on Bill C-65: Federal Political Parties Should Be Required Respect People’s Privacy

The right to privacy protects people’s ability to keep their personal information and private life out of the public domain. This right is essential to the protection of our autonomy, dignity, and personal identity.

Privacy is also a gateway right to all other fundamental rights. This means that without a robust protection of the right to privacy, all other rights suffer. Privacy is thus nothing short of a cornerstone of our democracy.

On November 26, 2024 CCLA filed its written submission to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs regarding Bill C-65, An Act to Amend the Canada Elections Act.

CCLA’s submission focuses on the sections of this Bill that create new statutory requirements for federal political parties collecting individuals’ personal information.

Federal political parties, like everyone else in Canada, must respect people’s privacy rights. This Bill falls unacceptably short in this regard, as it fails to subject federal political parties to basic and well-accepted privacy standards and duties already enshrined in other federal and provincial regimes. Through a series of seven recommendations, CCLA urged the Committee to amend Bill C-65 to ensure that federal political parties dealing with personal information are bound to transparency, accountability and statutory compliance.

CCLA’s submission on Bill C-65 can be found here.