Do you think it’s fair that our political parties are not subject to privacy legislation in Canada? No matter how I approach this topic, I always conclude that it’s not right. I have never heard of even one argument to suggest that political parties should be able to operate differently regarding the collection, use, disclosure and safeguarding of personal information. If you read University of Victoria Prof. Colin Bennett's study on the use of personal information by political parties, I'd be surprised if you don't come to the same conclusion. 

As our election date quickly (but maybe not quickly enough) approaches, I’d love to see one party—heck I’d be happy with one politician—stand up and add privacy issues to their platform. There isn't much there, except for their varying views on Bill C-51. But what about everything else?

I’m not sure how or why privacy is not taken more seriously or featured more prominently by our politicians. After all, you don’t have to look far to see how privacy and data security issues are clearly on the minds of most Canadians. I know a few politicians out there read the Digest, so maybe I’ll get some direct feedback on the issue. To the politicians: Does privacy feature someplace in your platforms or your discussions with constituents? To the voters: Do you want to see privacy issues more at the forefront of some of the other election issues on the table, and do you care whether and how politicians collect and use your personal information to get your vote?

If there’s anything to report back, I’ll do so in a subsequent issue.

On a different note, and in case you didn’t see my tweet (@k_klein) earlier in the week, I want to draw special attention to Chris Wolf winning the prestigious Vanguard Award this past week at the IAPP P.S.R. conference in Vegas. Chris is a true pioneer in the area of privacy law, and I think the award is well deserved. Read on below for an article about all the award winners.