The Ontario election is coming up June 2 and, being the privacy nerd I am, I’m checking out the platforms of the various parties to see how privacy figures in. I can’t say it’s the only factor but I do care about these issues and want to know whether it is even on the radar.

For what it’s worth, I’ve noticed: The New Democratic Party doesn’t mention privacy, the Conservative platform … I can’t find it, and the Liberals mention privacy two times in a 150-page platform (and this includes a pledge to modernize Ontario’s privacy laws, although no mention of whether it’s public or private sector they’re talking about).

If you’re in Ontario, I’d encourage you to register to vote and as a privacy pro, you may want to check out for yourself what they say about privacy. What happens in Ontario can have an impact on how we go about our day-to-day work in Ontario, however you feel about things.

While we’re on the topic of platforms, I am writing this from the IAPP Canada Privacy Symposium 2022 in Toronto after a very successful day two. This afternoon we had our famous Game Show, and I have to say our commissioners and practitioners really showed up for the task. The theme was (loosely) "Dragon’s Den" and our "dragons" were Commissioners Daniel Therrien (federal), Michael McEvoy (British Columbia), Diane Poitras (Quebec), Michael Harvey (Newfoundland and Labrador) and Patricia Kosseim (Ontario). They were pitched some pretty wacky ideas from privacy pros Bill Abbott (Telus), Constantine Karbaliotis, CIPP/C, CIPP/E, CIPP/US, CIPM, CIPT, FIP, (nNovation) and Eloïse Gratton (Borden Ladner Gervais).

Imagine for a moment labels for privacy like those for nutrition, electric shocks as a new option for regulatory powers or microchip implants in citizens to better gauge what citizens might find reasonable. All these pitches were a superb and fun avenue to discuss issues such as transparency, enforcement powers and determining what are the reasonable expectations of the reasonable person. I’m grateful to everyone’s good humor and participation and (no surprise), I’m already thinking about what we might do next year. If you have a cool idea send it in.

In the meantime, read up on the privacy news and have an excellent weekend.