Over the past several weeks, there have been several important privacy developments in Canada including troubling privacy practices at well-known organizations such as the CBC and Tim Hortons, a call from business organizations for privacy reform, the nomination of a new privacy commissioner with little privacy experience, and a decision by a Senate committee to effectively overrule the government on border privacy rules. These developments raise the puzzling question of why the federal government – led by Innovation, Science and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino, and Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez – are so indifferent to privacy, at best treating it as a low priority issue and at worst proposing dangerous measures or seemingly hoping to cash in on weak privacy laws in order to fund other policy priorities.
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Defending the Indefensible: If Bill C-11 Won’t Pass Until the Fall, Why is the Government Cutting Off Debate and Review Now?
The government’s motion to cut off Bill C-11 debate will head to a vote on Monday as it seeks to wrap up submission of amendments, voting on all amendments, the House of Commons report stage, and third reading within a week. Liberal MPs argue that Conservative filibustering at committee necessitates the motion, yet with Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez acknowledging that a Senate review of the bill will likely have to wait until the fall, there is no deadline and no obvious need to curtail proper review of amendments and House debate. Indeed, by rushing through the amendment review of the bill, the government undermines the credibility of the committee process and makes a full Senate review even more essential.
Secret Law Making, the Sequel: As Youtubers Speak Out Against Bill C-11, Government Moves to End Debate, Vote Next Week on Secret Amendments
With only eight days left in the Parliamentary schedule until the House of Commons breaks for the summer, Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act, has entered into a strange parallel universe. In one world, the government is moving to end debate on the bill and expedite passage in the House by the end of next week. Assuming it is successful – NDP support suggests it has the votes – the government has set a deadline of Monday, June 13th for amendments, June 14th for voting on all amendments as part of a clause-by-clause review, and then a single day for the last two stages in the House of Commons (report stage and third reading). Put it all together and it wants the bill passed by the House by the end of next week.
The limit on the clause-by-clause review to a single day means that the Heritage committee will likely reprise its approach from Bill C-10 of voting on amendments that the public has never seen, that are not read in committee, and are not subject to any discussion or debate. These secret amendments – they will only be revealed to the public after the entire process is complete and the new, updated bill is made public at the report stage – is particularly egregious.
The Bill C-11 Effect: “Any Video on TikTok That Uses Music Could be Subject to Regulation”
TikTok did not appear before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage as part of its Bill C-11 study, but one of the world’s most popular user generated content sites issued a warning that even Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez can’t ignore: if the bill becomes law, “any video on TikTok that uses music could be subject to regulation under the Broadcasting Act.” TikTok’s analysis picks up where Rodriguez left off at committee as he sought to downplay the effect of the bill on user content and dangerously equated some of the concerns with misinformation. Yet despite the persistent denials, TikTok’s submission to the committee leaves little doubt that any Canadian who uses the service to create a video with music backing will find their content caught by the bill.
Why Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez’s Bill C-11 Content Regulation Denials Ring Hollow
Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez appeared before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage yesterday, using the opportunity to defend Bill C-11 with assurances that concerns about the inclusion of user content within the bill were “unfounded.” As this post unpacks, the denials of content regulation ring hollow as his defence falls apart on close examination of the bill. Numerous witnesses, including digital creators, Internet platforms, and industry associations, have all expressed concerns about the issue. Rather than respond to them, Rodriguez and the government implausibly deny that the issue exists at all.
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The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 230: Aengus Bridgman on the 2025 Federal Election, Social Media Platforms, and Misinformation 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 229: My Digital Access Day Keynote – Assessing the Canadian Digital Policy Record 
Queen’s University Trustees Reject Divestment Efforts Emphasizing the Importance of Institutional Neutrality
