Privacy Concerns on the Proposed Election Law Reform Act, Bill C-23

Several experts on privacy issues have raised their concerns on the Conservatives' election law reform bill C-23. Colin Bennett, a political science professor at the University of Victoria, said the proposed bill lacked the basic measures to protect voters' personal information.

The biggest concern is on the collection and use of voter information by political parties. Currently, political parties are subject to the Canada Elections Act, which protects voters' names and addresses. However, parties collect far more information than those. Because political parties are not subject to PIPEDA, the collection and use of voter information are not protected by any law. As a result, parties are able to enter the data into their own databases, and use it in any way they want. Citizens, however, would have no right to know what their information is used for, and have no right to correct it if it is inaccurate.

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