Whereas  

• testimony from privacy regulators and experts before the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs identified significant regulatory gaps in the oversight of political party data practices in the Canada Elections Act as amended under Bill C-4, Part 4 as referenced in the Committee’s report;  
• regulators warned that political parties remain shielded from the level of independent enforcement, transparency, auditing and access rights required of other organizations across Canadian society;  
• legislation governing personal information by political parties operating year round must equally protect the democratic rights of Canadians year round and not just during the election period and should avoid entrenching regulatory advantages for political parties themselves;   
• the recent proposed amendments allow political parties to operate under weaker privacy accountability standards than those imposed on citizens, businesses, and civil society organizations;  
• democratic confidence is damaged when those who write the rules for elections exempt themselves from the standards expected of everyone else;  

We, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada call upon the House of Commons to oppose or repeal any changes to the Canada Elections Act, during the 45th Parliament, that have the effect of exempting political parties from privacy obligations that they are or were subject to; and impose enforceable privacy obligations equivalent to widely accepted Canadian fair information principles, including meaningful rights of access and independent oversight, prior to the next federal general election.