The Canadian government yesterday tabled its Budget Implementation Act. Running at over 600 pages, the bill includes several notable provisions related to digital policy including the repeal of the Digital Services Tax, the restoration of a privacy provision in the Broadcasting Act that was mistakenly deleted (yet no one noticed for two years), adding a new data mobility framework to Canada’s privacy laws, and creating a new Stablecoin Act. The Canadian Stablecoin Act is modelled on the U.S. GENUIS Act, though there are some notable differences.
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The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 166: Colin Bennett on How the Government Is the Using the Budget Implementation Act to Weaken the Privacy Rules for Political Parties
For the second consecutive year, the government is using the Budget Implementation Act to quietly pass concerning legislation with minimal oversight or public attention. Last year, the BIA was used to extend the term of copyright in order to comply with the USMCA. This year, it is privacy that is at issue, with provisions related to political parties. Why would the government squeeze in privacy rules on political parties in Bill C-47?
Colin Bennett, a Professor Emeritus at the University of Victoria and a leading privacy expert, has the answer. He’s been focused on Canada’s inadequate privacy rules governing political parties for a decade and is now sounding the alarm on the bill, noting that the provisions appear to be an effort to sideline a case in British Columbia that would apply tougher provincial privacy rules to Canada’s national political parties. He joins the Law Bytes podcast to explain.








