The Liberal government proposes making it easier for federal agencies to share and reuse the personal data of Canadians through a major overhaul of the Privacy Act. The act governs how federal agencies collect, use and disclose personal information, and gives people the right to see and correct data about them the government holds. The […]

The Alberta government introduced legislation Thursday to ensure children won’t be able to access sexually graphic images in books at public libraries. Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams stressed at a news conference that the government isn’t banning books. He held up a page of a graphic novel with a sexually explicit example of the images […]

What do conservation authorities, a downtown Toronto parking lot and freedom-of-information requests have in common? On the face of it, nothing — but provincial legislative changes are coming to all three, and they are jammed into an omnibus budget bill tabled Thursday by Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy. The province’s plan for doling out taxpayer […]

Ontario is set to make Premier Doug Ford and cabinet members’ records secret as it “modernizes” freedom-of-information laws, a change the province’s privacy watchdog warns will eviscerate public accountability. Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement Minister Stephen Crawford, however, said his government is still “one of the most transparent governments in the history of […]

The federal Liberals accepted a Conservative proposal Monday to put guardrails around proposed new cabinet powers as they debated the government’s omnibus budget bill. The finance committee tackled 606 clauses in the budget implementation legislation over five-and-a-half hours Monday as MPs faced a tight timeline to review the fast-tracked Bill C-15. That legislation proposes to […]

Senators on the social affairs committee want to see immigration-related sections in the government’s border bill, C-12, removed or significantly modified by the Senate national security committee. The national security committee is responsible for tabling amendments, while the social affairs committee has conducted an in-depth study of the bill’s immigration measures. That study, obtained by […]

THUNDER BAY – Most city councillors don’t want to be forced to hold public meetings with their constituents. In a 5-8 vote, Coun. Greg Johnsen’s motion to require each councillor to host a minimum of one ward or town hall meeting per year failed to gain the support of his colleagues, particularly at-large councillors. The […]

Alberta’s privacy watchdog is raising concerns about the government’s plan to add health-care numbers to driver’s licences and other forms of identification. Information and privacy commissioner Diane McLeod said it would increase the risk of fraud as the numbers could be obtained outside of health-care settings. “Personal health numbers of Canadians are a sought-after commodity […]

A former Liberal cabinet minister says the government was close to introducing legislation around the internal use of artificial intelligence (AI) but ran out of time before governments changed after the Progressive Conservatives won the fall general election. “ I’m very sad that my efforts towards legislation did not get fulfilled before the government changed, but […]

Dangerous driving penalties are set to soon be strengthened in Ontario, as the government has tabled a bill in honour of a father of three who was killed by an alleged dangerous driver. Andrew Cristillo, 35, was killed Aug. 3 in a head-on crash in Whitchurch-Stouffville that also left his wife and their three young […]

Faraday Township council heard from Kate Harris, the head librarian and CEO of the North Hastings Public Library at their meeting on Nov. 5, who presented the library’s draft budget for 2026. Harris and CAO Bernice Crocker comment to The Bancroft Times about Harris’ library budget presentation. Harris presented her draft budget for the NHPL […]

The Kinew government is drafting legislative changes to better track schoolchildren and ensure more of them attend classes regularly. Premier Wab Kinew revealed the “Reach Out, Reach Up” initiative is a priority for this session, but few details were included in the Nov. 18 throne speech. The program will address chronic absenteeism in kindergarten-to-Grade 12 […]