CFE joins call for reform of Canada’s approach to digital policymaking

In a joint letter today, the Centre for Free Expression (CFE) joined with 13 other Canadian civil society organizations and digital policy experts in delivering a joint letter to key federal ministers, urging fundamental reform of Canada's approach to digital policymaking. The letter calls for an end to the last government’s practice of packing digital legislation into sprawling, multi-part omnibus bills such as Bill C-63 (the Online Harms Act) and Bill C-27 (covering private sector privacy reform and AI regulation). The signatories agree the government must address critical issues such as online safety, privacy, and artificial intelligence. But all strongly believe that there must be separate, targeted pieces of legislation, coordinated through a single department to be able to achieve a proper and unified digital policy and regulatory regime. 

“There is so much at stake for Canadians in how the government approaches the difficult and complex task of getting multifaceted aspects of digital policy right,” said James L. Turk, CFE Director. 

“Lumping a bunch of different aspects together in omnibus bills has failed badly,” Turk added.  “It obstructs the necessary careful and detailed parliamentary study, discussion, and debate that each aspect much have if we are to get things right.”

He added that an enormous amount of work and consultation has been undertaken in recent years that should form the basis for legislation to focus on basic rights-respecting privacy and online safety measures that are badly overdue.

The signatories argue that the previous government’s fragmented approach to Canada’s digital policy, split between different government agencies with competing mandates and agendas, has led to the failure of long-promised digital policy reforms to receive due study, appropriate amendments, and adoption by Parliament. 

The letter concludes with five core recommendations for future legislation, including placing overall coordination responsibility for digital policy under a single department; advancing Canada’s digital policy agenda through separate legislative proposals; ensuring there is adequate time for discussion, close committee study, and thorough debate on each piece; enabling extensive consultation on those aspects where that has not yet occurred, and prioritizing areas of broad consensus for rapid legislative improvement first.

Read the joint letter and its recommendations in full here.