By Canadian Press

Privacy czar finds gaps in federal party policies on personal information

Dec 15, 2019 | 6:05 AM

OTTAWA — An analysis by a federal watchdog found the privacy policies of all the major federal political parties failed to ensure people gave valid consent to the collection and use of their personal information.

The federal privacy commissioner concluded the policies also fell short on setting out specific limits on use of the data, details of how long information is kept, the use of security safeguards on systems and the ability of people to see the collected information to check its accuracy.

The Canadian Press obtained a copy of the internal report, completed in late August, through an Access to Information request.

Information about prospective voters can be extremely valuable to political parties for everything from door-to-door canvassing to shaping platforms.

However, there has long been concern about how parties use personal data, particularly since the primary federal privacy laws do not apply to them. 

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The commissioner’s office assessed the Liberal, Conservative, NDP, Green and Bloc Quebecois privacy policies following the implementation of changes to the Canada Elections Act on April 1.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 15, 2019.

The Canadian Press