BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association
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Election 2019: Comparing Party Platforms
How Canada’s major federal political parties compare on issues related to privacy and access to information
The table below uses publicly available information contained within the platforms of Canada’s four major political parties: the Liberal Party, the Conservative Party, the New Democratic Party, and the Green Party.
FIPA is a non-partisan organization and this chart is only intended to be an easily accessible guide on how the parties are addressing issues related to privacy and access to information. It is not an endorsement of any particular party.
For more information about the specific statements issued by each party leading to these determinations, please see the information below the chart.
Liberal Party Conservative Party New Democratic Party Green Party
Totals 6 3 2 9
Increase the powers of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada Yes Unclear Yes Yes
Increase the powers of the Information Commissioner of Canada Nothing stated Nothing stated Nothing stated Yes
Improve Access to Information Nothing stated Nothing stated Nothing stated Yes
Ensure Political Parties fall under Canada's federal privacy legislation Nothing stated Nothing stated Nothing stated Yes
Mandatory breach notifications Yes Unclear Nothing stated Yes
Give citizens the ability to erase basic personal information from platforms Yes Unclear Nothing stated Yes
Give citizens data portability Yes Nothing stated Nothing stated Yes
Create stronger cyberbullying protections Yes Yes Yes Nothing stated
Create mandatory plain language consent agreements Nothing stated Yes Nothing stated Nothing stated
Give citizens ability to review and challenge amount of personal information being collected by government Yes No Nothing stated Yes
Create regulations related to Artificial Intelligence Nothing stated Yes Nothing stated Yes
Each of these determinations are based on the platform documents released by the major four political parties in 2019:
Liberal Party of Canada Platform 2019
Conservative Party of Canada Platform 2019
New Democratic Party of Canada Platform 2019
Green Party of Canada Platform 2019
Below are the quotes and page numbers where each of these determinations can be corroborated.
We encourage all political parties to provide us with additional details about their commitments, or to provide us with clarification on their positions, by writing to us (fipa@fipa.bc.ca).
Increase the powers of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Liberal Party: Yes. Included in Canada’s Digital Charter (40-41).
Conservative Party: Unclear. “We will employ sensible regulation, rigorous standards, and strong oversight over the personal information, data, and privacy of Canadians” (74).
New Democratic Party: Yes. The “New Democrats will work to strengthen privacy protections for Canadians by boosting the power of the Privacy Commissioner to make and enforce orders” (102).
Green Party: Yes. “Significantly increase the powers of the Privacy Commissioner, in particular to protect identity and personal data, and to enforce privacy laws” (75).
Increase the powers of the Information Commissioner of Canada
Liberal Party: Nothing stated.
Conservative Party: Nothing stated.
New Democratic Party: Nothing stated.
Green Party: Yes. Will “[s]trengthen the role and protect the independence of parliamentary officers including … the Information Commissioner” (73). They will also “[a]uthorize the Information Commissioner to order the release of information” (74)
Improve Access to Information
Liberal Party: Nothing stated.
Conservative Party: Nothing stated.
New Democratic Party: Nothing stated.
Green Party: Yes. They will do this by: removing all fees except filing fee; creating enforceable deadlines; put parliament, the PMO’s office, and all minister’s offices, within scope of ATI; ensure public interest comes before secrecy; allow Information Commissioner to review and determine if cabinet confidence applies; create a duty to document regarding ATI decisions (74).
Ensure Political Parties fall under Canada’s federal privacy legislation
Liberal Party: Nothing stated.
Conservative Party: Nothing stated.
New Democratic Party: Nothing stated.
Green Party: Yes. “Require political parties to follow the Privacy Act, without exceptions” (75).
Mandatory breach notifications
Liberal Party: Yes. Included in Canada’s Digital Charter. Also includes compensation (40-41).
Conservative Party: Unclear. Will establish “binding cyber security standards for critical infrastructure sectors and penalties for non-compliance” to protect Canadians from “largescale data breaches” (75).
New Democratic Party: Nothing stated.
Green Party: Yes. Will “[c]reate mandatory data breach reporting for all government departments, companies, banks and political parties” (75).
Give citizens the ability to erase basic personal information from platforms
Liberal Party: Yes. Included in Canada’s Digital Charter (40-41).
Conservative Party: Unclear. “We will employ sensible regulation, rigorous standards, and strong oversight over the personal information, data, and privacy of Canadians” (74).
New Democratic Party: Nothing stated.
Green Party: Yes. “Require companies to … to delete personal information from company databases when requested by that person. Individuals would have the ‘right to be forgotten.’” (75).
Give citizens data portability
Liberal Party: Yes. Included in Canada’s Digital Charter (40-41).
Conservative Party: Nothing stated.
New Democratic Party: Nothing stated.
Green Party: Yes. “Require companies to grant access to all information they hold on an individual” (75).
Create stronger cyberbullying protections
Liberal Party: Yes. Included in Canada’s Digital Charter (40-41) Will also “move forward with new regulations for social media platforms, starting with a requirement that all platforms remove illegal content, including hate speech, within 24 hours or face significant financial penalties. This will also include other online harms, such as radicalization, incitement to violence, exploitation of children, or creation or distribution of terrorist propaganda. Because hate speech continues to harm people offline as well, we will also look at options for civil remedies for victims of hate speech” (47-48).
Conservative Party: Yes. Will introduce the Cyberbullying Accountability Act, legislation that “prohibits the use of a phone or the internet to threaten or advocate self-harm”, create civil liability so that “the parents, guardians, or account holders of cyberbullies can be held liable” (74).
New Democratic Party: Yes. Will convene a “national working group to counter online hate and protect public safety, and make sure that social media platforms are responsible for remove [sic] hateful and extremist content before it can do harm” (96).
Green Party: Nothing stated.
Create mandatory plain language consent agreements
Liberal Party: Nothing stated.
Conservative Party: Yes. Will also only allow “data that is necessary to provide the service” to be collected (74).
New Democratic Party: Nothing stated.
Green Party: Nothing stated.
Give citizens ability to review and challenge amount of personal information being collected by government
Liberal Party: Yes. Included in Canada’s Digital Charter (40-41).
Conservative Party: No. Will increase funding to police infrastructure: “To better support local law enforcement, a new Conservative government will commit $30 million over five years to purchase new equipment. This would benefit mid-sized communities the most, since they do not have the same budget as larger police programs to access technology. We will create a grant program so that our law enforcement has access to every tool and technology available. This will empower law enforcement to keep our communities and neighbourhoods safe” (64).
New Democratic Party: Nothing stated.
Green Party: Yes. “Change the law to require the Communications Security Establishment and CSIS to get a warrant before intruding on Canadians’ communications”; “Prohibit the routine surveillance of Canadians who protest against the government and the sharing of protesters and NGO staff information with the National Energy Board, and others”; and “Prohibit cyber surveillance and bulk collection of data by intelligence and police agencies” (75).
Create regulations related to Artificial Intelligence
Liberal Party: Nothing stated.
Conservative Party: Yes. Will establish “regulatory standards for ethical and secure use” of Artificial Intelligence (74).
New Democratic Party: Nothing stated.
Green Party: Yes. Will create parliamentary committee to examine issues that include Artificial Intelligence (46).
How Canada’s major federal political parties compare on issues related to privacy and access to information
The table below uses publicly available information contained within the platforms of Canada’s four major political parties: the Liberal Party, the Conservative Party, the New Democratic Party, and the Green Party.
FIPA is a non-partisan organization and this chart is only intended to be an easily accessible guide on how the parties are addressing issues related to privacy and access to information. It is not an endorsement of any particular party.
For more information about the specific statements issued by each party leading to these determinations, please see the information below the chart.
| Liberal Party | Conservative Party | New Democratic Party | Green Party | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 6 | 3 | 2 | 9 |
| Increase the powers of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada | Yes | Unclear | Yes | Yes |
| Increase the powers of the Information Commissioner of Canada | Nothing stated | Nothing stated | Nothing stated | Yes |
| Improve Access to Information | Nothing stated | Nothing stated | Nothing stated | Yes |
| Ensure Political Parties fall under Canada's federal privacy legislation | Nothing stated | Nothing stated | Nothing stated | Yes |
| Mandatory breach notifications | Yes | Unclear | Nothing stated | Yes |
| Give citizens the ability to erase basic personal information from platforms | Yes | Unclear | Nothing stated | Yes |
| Give citizens data portability | Yes | Nothing stated | Nothing stated | Yes |
| Create stronger cyberbullying protections | Yes | Yes | Yes | Nothing stated |
| Create mandatory plain language consent agreements | Nothing stated | Yes | Nothing stated | Nothing stated |
| Give citizens ability to review and challenge amount of personal information being collected by government | Yes | No | Nothing stated | Yes |
| Create regulations related to Artificial Intelligence | Nothing stated | Yes | Nothing stated | Yes |
Each of these determinations are based on the platform documents released by the major four political parties in 2019:
Liberal Party of Canada Platform 2019
Conservative Party of Canada Platform 2019
New Democratic Party of Canada Platform 2019
Green Party of Canada Platform 2019
Below are the quotes and page numbers where each of these determinations can be corroborated.
We encourage all political parties to provide us with additional details about their commitments, or to provide us with clarification on their positions, by writing to us (fipa@fipa.bc.ca).
Increase the powers of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Liberal Party: Yes. Included in Canada’s Digital Charter (40-41).
Conservative Party: Unclear. “We will employ sensible regulation, rigorous standards, and strong oversight over the personal information, data, and privacy of Canadians” (74).
New Democratic Party: Yes. The “New Democrats will work to strengthen privacy protections for Canadians by boosting the power of the Privacy Commissioner to make and enforce orders” (102).
Green Party: Yes. “Significantly increase the powers of the Privacy Commissioner, in particular to protect identity and personal data, and to enforce privacy laws” (75).
Increase the powers of the Information Commissioner of Canada
Liberal Party: Nothing stated.
Conservative Party: Nothing stated.
New Democratic Party: Nothing stated.
Green Party: Yes. Will “[s]trengthen the role and protect the independence of parliamentary officers including … the Information Commissioner” (73). They will also “[a]uthorize the Information Commissioner to order the release of information” (74)
Improve Access to Information
Liberal Party: Nothing stated.
Conservative Party: Nothing stated.
New Democratic Party: Nothing stated.
Green Party: Yes. They will do this by: removing all fees except filing fee; creating enforceable deadlines; put parliament, the PMO’s office, and all minister’s offices, within scope of ATI; ensure public interest comes before secrecy; allow Information Commissioner to review and determine if cabinet confidence applies; create a duty to document regarding ATI decisions (74).
Ensure Political Parties fall under Canada’s federal privacy legislation
Liberal Party: Nothing stated.
Conservative Party: Nothing stated.
New Democratic Party: Nothing stated.
Green Party: Yes. “Require political parties to follow the Privacy Act, without exceptions” (75).
Mandatory breach notifications
Liberal Party: Yes. Included in Canada’s Digital Charter. Also includes compensation (40-41).
Conservative Party: Unclear. Will establish “binding cyber security standards for critical infrastructure sectors and penalties for non-compliance” to protect Canadians from “largescale data breaches” (75).
New Democratic Party: Nothing stated.
Green Party: Yes. Will “[c]reate mandatory data breach reporting for all government departments, companies, banks and political parties” (75).
Give citizens the ability to erase basic personal information from platforms
Liberal Party: Yes. Included in Canada’s Digital Charter (40-41).
Conservative Party: Unclear. “We will employ sensible regulation, rigorous standards, and strong oversight over the personal information, data, and privacy of Canadians” (74).
New Democratic Party: Nothing stated.
Green Party: Yes. “Require companies to … to delete personal information from company databases when requested by that person. Individuals would have the ‘right to be forgotten.’” (75).
Give citizens data portability
Liberal Party: Yes. Included in Canada’s Digital Charter (40-41).
Conservative Party: Nothing stated.
New Democratic Party: Nothing stated.
Green Party: Yes. “Require companies to grant access to all information they hold on an individual” (75).
Create stronger cyberbullying protections
Liberal Party: Yes. Included in Canada’s Digital Charter (40-41) Will also “move forward with new regulations for social media platforms, starting with a requirement that all platforms remove illegal content, including hate speech, within 24 hours or face significant financial penalties. This will also include other online harms, such as radicalization, incitement to violence, exploitation of children, or creation or distribution of terrorist propaganda. Because hate speech continues to harm people offline as well, we will also look at options for civil remedies for victims of hate speech” (47-48).
Conservative Party: Yes. Will introduce the Cyberbullying Accountability Act, legislation that “prohibits the use of a phone or the internet to threaten or advocate self-harm”, create civil liability so that “the parents, guardians, or account holders of cyberbullies can be held liable” (74).
New Democratic Party: Yes. Will convene a “national working group to counter online hate and protect public safety, and make sure that social media platforms are responsible for remove [sic] hateful and extremist content before it can do harm” (96).
Green Party: Nothing stated.
Create mandatory plain language consent agreements
Liberal Party: Nothing stated.
Conservative Party: Yes. Will also only allow “data that is necessary to provide the service” to be collected (74).
New Democratic Party: Nothing stated.
Green Party: Nothing stated.
Give citizens ability to review and challenge amount of personal information being collected by government
Liberal Party: Yes. Included in Canada’s Digital Charter (40-41).
Conservative Party: No. Will increase funding to police infrastructure: “To better support local law enforcement, a new Conservative government will commit $30 million over five years to purchase new equipment. This would benefit mid-sized communities the most, since they do not have the same budget as larger police programs to access technology. We will create a grant program so that our law enforcement has access to every tool and technology available. This will empower law enforcement to keep our communities and neighbourhoods safe” (64).
New Democratic Party: Nothing stated.
Green Party: Yes. “Change the law to require the Communications Security Establishment and CSIS to get a warrant before intruding on Canadians’ communications”; “Prohibit the routine surveillance of Canadians who protest against the government and the sharing of protesters and NGO staff information with the National Energy Board, and others”; and “Prohibit cyber surveillance and bulk collection of data by intelligence and police agencies” (75).
Create regulations related to Artificial Intelligence
Liberal Party: Nothing stated.
Conservative Party: Yes. Will establish “regulatory standards for ethical and secure use” of Artificial Intelligence (74).
New Democratic Party: Nothing stated.
Green Party: Yes. Will create parliamentary committee to examine issues that include Artificial Intelligence (46).