Tag

Parliament

2 articles

AccountabilityJune 19, 20266 min read
In a Single Day, the Lawful Access Bill Cleared Committee, Report Stage, and Third Reading. The Privacy Law Meant to Balance It Is Parked Until 2030.
Bill C-22, the Lawful Access Act (full title: "An Act respecting lawful access"), passed third reading in the House of Commons on June 18, 2026 and received first reading in the Senate the same day. According to Parliament's own LEGISinfo record, committee consideration, report stage, and third reading all occurred on June 18 — the bill having been at first reading since March 12 and referred to committee on April 20. University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist reported that the government limited clause-by-clause committee review to 30 minutes, after which remaining amendments were voted on with no further debate, and that government amendments were not publicly disclosed while opposition amendments — drawn from testimony by the Privacy Commissioner, bar associations, and security experts — were neither released nor debated. The bill lowers the threshold for compelling subscriber information to "reasonable grounds to suspect," which Geist describes as the lowest investigative standard in Canadian criminal law, down from "reasonable grounds to believe." It also authorizes regulations requiring providers to retain categories of metadata for up to one year, and to build interception capability. Privacy Commissioner Philippe Dufresne told committee on May 28 the wording could expose a subscriber's healthcare providers, lawyers, or financial institutions, and urged judicial warrants wherever Canadians retain a reasonable expectation of privacy. Apple, Signal, and NordVPN raised encryption objections, with Signal and NordVPN signalling they could exit Canada. The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police president, Thomas Carrique, told committee the privacy concerns were "overstated" and that the debate should not overlook victims' rights to safety and justice. C-22 is the standalone successor to the lawful-access provisions originally in the 2025 omnibus Bill C-2, the Strong Borders Act, whose broader warrantless powers were removed in October 2025 after backlash. Separately, Bill C-36 — the government's private-sector privacy modernization — is not expected to take effect until roughly 2030 and transfers private-sector privacy enforcement from the Privacy Commissioner of Canada to a new Cabinet-appointed Digital Safety and Data Protection Commission. This article documents what passed, how fast, who objected, and the gap between the speed of the surveillance bill and the delay on the privacy bill.
AccountabilityMay 28, 20267 min read
The Prime Minister Still Holds $6.8 Million in Brookfield Stock Options. Parliament's Ethics Committee Says a Blind Trust Isn't Enough.
Mark Carney joined Brookfield Asset Management in 2020 as Vice Chair and Head of ESG and Impact Investing, later becoming Chair of the Brookfield Asset Management board. He held those roles until January 2025, immediately before launching his successful Liberal leadership campaign and becoming Prime Minister in March 2025. According to Brookfield's 10-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Carney held 409,300 unexercised Brookfield stock options worth approximately US$6.8 million as of December 31, 2024. Brookfield is one of the largest residential property owners in Canada, with 31,211 residential units in the country (part of a North American portfolio of over 73,000 single-family lots). Upon becoming Prime Minister, Carney placed his assets in a blind trust and established a conflict-of-interest screen — administered by his chief of staff Marc-André Blanchard and Privy Council Clerk Michael Sabia — intended to wall him off from official decisions involving Brookfield and the payment-processing firm Stripe (on whose board he also served). His ethics filing lists more than 100 entities under the conflict-of-interest screen. In April 2026, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics published a report recommending that prime ministers be required to fully divest their investment portfolios on taking office, not merely place them in a blind trust. Democracy Watch has characterized the blind-trust-and-screen arrangement as "loophole-filled." This article documents the financial relationship, the conflict-of-interest architecture, the specific concerns raised about it, and Carney's defenses — sticking strictly to the documented financial record.

In a Single Day, the Lawful Access Bill Cleared Committee, Report Stage, and Third Reading. The Privacy Law Meant to Balance It Is Parked Until 2030.

Bill C-22, the Lawful Access Act (full title: "An Act respecting lawful access"), passed third reading in the House of Commons on June 18, 2026 and received first reading in the Senate the same day. According to Parliament's own LEGISinfo record, committee consideration, report stage, and third reading all occurred on June 18 — the bill having been at first reading since March 12 and referred to committee on April 20. University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist reported that the government limited clause-by-clause committee review to 30 minutes, after which remaining amendments were voted on with no further debate, and that government amendments were not publicly disclosed while opposition amendments — drawn from testimony by the Privacy Commissioner, bar associations, and security experts — were neither released nor debated. The bill lowers the threshold for compelling subscriber information to "reasonable grounds to suspect," which Geist describes as the lowest investigative standard in Canadian criminal law, down from "reasonable grounds to believe." It also authorizes regulations requiring providers to retain categories of metadata for up to one year, and to build interception capability. Privacy Commissioner Philippe Dufresne told committee on May 28 the wording could expose a subscriber's healthcare providers, lawyers, or financial institutions, and urged judicial warrants wherever Canadians retain a reasonable expectation of privacy. Apple, Signal, and NordVPN raised encryption objections, with Signal and NordVPN signalling they could exit Canada. The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police president, Thomas Carrique, told committee the privacy concerns were "overstated" and that the debate should not overlook victims' rights to safety and justice. C-22 is the standalone successor to the lawful-access provisions originally in the 2025 omnibus Bill C-2, the Strong Borders Act, whose broader warrantless powers were removed in October 2025 after backlash. Separately, Bill C-36 — the government's private-sector privacy modernization — is not expected to take effect until roughly 2030 and transfers private-sector privacy enforcement from the Privacy Commissioner of Canada to a new Cabinet-appointed Digital Safety and Data Protection Commission. This article documents what passed, how fast, who objected, and the gap between the speed of the surveillance bill and the delay on the privacy bill.

The Prime Minister Still Holds $6.8 Million in Brookfield Stock Options. Parliament's Ethics Committee Says a Blind Trust Isn't Enough.

Mark Carney joined Brookfield Asset Management in 2020 as Vice Chair and Head of ESG and Impact Investing, later becoming Chair of the Brookfield Asset Management board. He held those roles until January 2025, immediately before launching his successful Liberal leadership campaign and becoming Prime Minister in March 2025. According to Brookfield's 10-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Carney held 409,300 unexercised Brookfield stock options worth approximately US$6.8 million as of December 31, 2024. Brookfield is one of the largest residential property owners in Canada, with 31,211 residential units in the country (part of a North American portfolio of over 73,000 single-family lots). Upon becoming Prime Minister, Carney placed his assets in a blind trust and established a conflict-of-interest screen — administered by his chief of staff Marc-André Blanchard and Privy Council Clerk Michael Sabia — intended to wall him off from official decisions involving Brookfield and the payment-processing firm Stripe (on whose board he also served). His ethics filing lists more than 100 entities under the conflict-of-interest screen. In April 2026, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics published a report recommending that prime ministers be required to fully divest their investment portfolios on taking office, not merely place them in a blind trust. Democracy Watch has characterized the blind-trust-and-screen arrangement as "loophole-filled." This article documents the financial relationship, the conflict-of-interest architecture, the specific concerns raised about it, and Carney's defenses — sticking strictly to the documented financial record.