More than thirty-five organizations, experts, and civil society groups are calling on Canada’s federal leaders to close a major gap in privacy protection by bringing federal political parties under Canada’s privacy laws.
In an open letter addressed to the Right Honourable Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, and leader of the Official Opposition and other federal political party leaders, signatories are urging Parliament to establish clear, enforceable privacy rules governing how political parties collect, use, and share Canadians’ personal information.
At present, federal political parties operate outside of Canada’s core privacy framework. Unlike hospitals, banks, schools, and government agencies, political parties are not subject to binding federal privacy law or independent oversight. This means they can collect highly sensitive personal information — including voters’ addresses, demographics, issue preferences, and inferred political beliefs — without the same legal safeguards that apply to other institutions.
80% of Canadians agree that federal political parties should follow the same privacy rules as businesses and public bodies. A recent political-party-enabled data breach of Alberta’s voter list–impacting close to 3 million Albertans–underscores these concerns. Despite this, major loopholes continue to allow federal political parties to collect and use Canadians’ personal data with little to no external accountability or independent oversight. Yet the federal government’s recent attempt to update our privacy laws, Bill C-36, does nothing to fix these loopholes.
The letter highlights growing concern that this gap undermines public trust in democratic institutions, particularly as federal political parties increasingly rely on large-scale data collection, digital targeting, and third-party data brokers to build detailed voter profiles.
Recent polling cited in the letter shows strong public support for reform, including:
- 80% of Canadians believe federal political parties should follow the same privacy rules as businesses and public-sector organizations.
- 84% support the right to access personal data held by political parties.
- 85% support the right to correct or delete that information.
- Only 5% support the current system, where parties set and enforce their own privacy policies without external oversight.
The signatories argue that this is not simply a technical gap, but a democratic one. They warn that without clear protections and independent oversight, Canadians have no meaningful control over how their personal information is used in political campaigns.
In the letter, organizations and experts are calling on Parliament to act before the next federal election by:
- Applying binding privacy law to federal political parties and their agents, aligned with established Canadian privacy principles;
- Guaranteeing voters meaningful rights of access, correction, and deletion of their personal information held by political parties;
- Ensuring independent oversight by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, with enforcement authority;
- Repealing or rejecting legislation that falls short of these standards, including Bills C-4 and C-25.
Signatories include civil liberties organizations, digital rights advocates, and research and academic experts from across Canada.
Signed as Organizations: Apathy is Boring, BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA), BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA), Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), Centre for Digital Rights, Democracy Watch, Fair Vote Canada, GoodBot, LeadNow, National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), OpenMedia, Open North, PEN Canada, Privacy and Access Council of Canada, Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), Public Interest Alberta (PIA), Technologists of Democracy, Tech Reset Canada.
Signed as Experts: Sara Bannerman (McMaster University), Vass Bednar (Canadian Shield Institute), Colin Bennett (University of Victoria), Andrew Clement (University of Toronto), Elizabeth Denham (former Information and Privacy Commissioner for the UK and British Columbia), David Fraser (McInnes Cooper, Dalhousie University), Michael Geist (University of Ottawa), Blayne Haggart (Brock University), Guy T. Hoskins (Carleton University), Evan Light (University of Toronto), Matt Malone (Balsillie School of International Affairs), Fenwick McKelvey (Concordia University), Kate Robertson (Citizen Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto), Laith Sarhan (Sarhan Data Law), Natasha Tusikov (York University), Kenneth Werbin (Wilfrid Laurier University), and Janet Wesselius (University of Alberta), Dwayne Winseck (Carleton University) and David Yount (David Young Law).
Organizations across Canada are encouraged to add their names to the letter and support stronger privacy protections for voters.
What you can do to support this campaign:
- Sign parliamentary petition e-7237 and share it with your community and friends;
- Learn more at voterprivacy.ca and follow the participating organizations for updates.
This campaign builds on growing public demand for accountability in how political parties handle personal data — and calls for privacy protections that match the standards already applied to other major institutions in Canada.
Français du Canada 
English (Canada)