Roundup: The Privacy Commissioner finally has his say

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Bill C-51 is now getting its review in the Senate, hearing from someone that the Commons didn’t – the Privacy Commissioner. What they got was an earful – there are some big problems with the information sharing provisions in the bill that would allow large amounts of personal information to be collected and shared between departments with little justification, and that his office would be swamped with work because of it. He’s also calling for oversight – like everyone else – and for the ability for different watchdogs to communicate with one another and coordinate their investigations in order to get a better picture of what these organisations are doing as they work together but their oversight remains siloed. Those other oversight bodies – SIRC and the CSE Commissioner – had much the same concerns when it comes to the ability to work together, and just keeping pace with the increasing scope and scale of operations. But will any of this have an effect? Maybe, as there are some Conservative senators who are concerned about these kinds of things and who may push back. But the government may bully through, and said senators may decide that this isn’t the hill they want to die on (which does happen), and they’ll let it go through. Suffice to say, the issue has not gone away.

Good reads:

  • In the Duffy trial, the Senate finance officer kept up her testimony of things Duffy tried to expense and wasn’t allowed, which eventually got paid by his friend’s company. Nicholas Köhler writes about the sense of hubris that pervades.
  • Harper says that he’ll release GHG targets and regulations sometime next month. So we’ll just hold our breath for those, shall we?
  • The Liberals are poking holes in the government’s claims about defence spending – but not necessarily promising more money if they form government.
  • The federal government disapproves of Vancouver’s plans to regulate medicinal marijuana shops even though it would mean there would be fewer of them.
  • The Correctional Investigator is concerned that there is an inmate who has been in solitary confinement for 17 years.
  • The government spent $4.7 million fighting 15 losing battles before the courts because their legislation couldn’t pass constitutional muster.

Odds and ends:

Senate Speaker Pierre-Claude Nolin passed away last night after a long battle with cancer.

The GG welcomes new funding for the Honours system, and hopes it will help bring forward more nominations, especially of women.

Because we can be an awfully provincial country, we fret about the Prime Minister not wearing the right hockey jersey. Of course.