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Some weeks, the privacy news cycle feels like déjà vu: another breach here, another patchwork bill there, another committee study gently collecting dust. But every so often, something lands that feels like it could actually move the needle.
This week, that something came courtesy of the Competition Bureau, which released a report arguing that real, functioning data portability in Canada could save Canadians between CAD1.1 billion and CAD3.8 billion a year.
Now, anyone who has ever tried to switch a bank, telecommunications provider, internet service provider, cellphone plan, or — heaven help us — an insurance company, knows this intuitively. You need more than just motivation. You need stamina. You need grit. You need the kind of determination normally reserved for marathon runners or parents assembling IKEA furniture without swearing. Or maybe just walking through IKEA following the arrows when you just needed one thing. But I digress.
Because switching providers in Canada isn't simply a task; it's an odyssey.
Forms that can't be found, portals that don't recognize passwords, phone lines that drop after 47 minutes on hold, or identity verification questions that feel like they were designed by someone who has never met another human. By the end, most Canadians would rather stick with the devil they know than attempt the bureaucratic Ironman required to move their digital lives elsewhere.
This, at its core, is not just a marketplace problem. It's a consumer protection problem and a privacy problem. Europeans have had a data portability right under the EU General Data Protection Regulation for years now. Canada has flirted with the idea, but things have dragged on without much commitment.
So, the Competition Bureau's intervention here matters. Data portability, done well, would let Canadians take their information and actually move it to another service without re-typing their life story 19 times. It would reduce friction, strengthen competition, improve choice and save billions in collective time and money.
The Bureau's report also sounds like it wasn't written in isolation. While it doesn't spell it out, it's hard to imagine they didn't consult the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada along the way, given how closely aligned the issues are and how they claim to work together. The message from both sides is clear: data mobility isn't just a nice-to-have. It's foundational to making Canada's digital economy fairer and more competitive.
The big question is: will decision-makers in Ottawa listen? Time will tell. But for now, the Competition Bureau has thrown down a well‑researched, economically compelling gauntlet. And if it nudges Canada even a few steps closer to genuine data portability, we might finally see Canadians regain a bit of control over their digital lives.
Kris Klein, CIPP/C, CIPM, FIP, is the country leader, Canada, for the IAPP.
This article originally appeared in the Canada Dashboard Digest, a free weekly IAPP newsletter. Subscriptions to this and other IAPP newsletters can be found here.
