Quebec’s minister of justice has announced her intention to introduce a bill aimed at modernizing the privacy regime in Canada. Should the bill pass, the Quebec regime could become the most onerous in Canada in this area.
The changes focus on five themes: tighter rules governing the consent of persons concerned; the possibility for these individuals to withdraw their consent and the company’s obligation to destroy their personal information it holds; the obligation for the company to report any security incident, including loss of data; increased powers granted to Quebec’s access to information commission (CAIQ) and higher applicable penalties; and the Act’s expanded scope of application to public bodies.
