In the last act of an incredibly intense digital policy stretch, the government today tabled new private sector privacy legislation in the form of Bill C-36, the Protecting Privacy and Consumer Data Act. It is a big bill, and my initial take will be divided into two: this post will focus on the seismic shift the bill creates for privacy administration and enforcement, and a second post (hopefully tomorrow) will discuss the substantive changes and additions. I start with the enforcement side because the most consequential feature of C-36 is the question of who will administer the rules. The bill firmly cements the Digital Safety Commission as a new digital super-regulator in Canada, stripping the Privacy Commissioner of authority over private sector privacy law and handing it instead to the same five-member commission the government created a few days ago to police online harms. I believe the approach is unprecedented among peer countries and will have negative repercussions for Canada’s standing in the privacy world. Indeed, removing an Agent of Parliament from private-sector privacy enforcement after decades isn’t something you tuck into a lengthy bill, but rather requires extended public consultation and analysis on how best to ensure Canada has effective privacy enforcement. This is a stunning abrogation of good policy development and a poorly conceived vision of the breadth and importance of privacy.

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