The B.C. court ruling could force political parties across Canada to reveal publicly how much data they are gathering about voters.Federal political parties have lost their bid to keep tight control over the information they gather about individual voters after a B.C. court ruled they are subject to the investigative powers of provincial privacy commissioners.
“The ability of an individual to control their personal information is intimately connected to their individual autonomy, dignity and privacy. These fundamental values lie at the heart of democracy,” Justice Weatherill wrote. Justice Weatherill rejected that argument, ruling the B.C. privacy watchdog’s powers do extend to federal political parties. This oversight function is vital because political parties are getting more sophisticated in terms of collecting data about who may vote for their candidates, he found.
NDP spokeswoman Alana Cahill said in an e-mail her party is also reviewing the ruling. But she added that privacy laws need “to be uniformly applied across the country” and that “allowing provincial bodies to determine how federal political parties operate in different jurisdictions will create a patchwork approach across the country that is unmanageable.”by the province’s privacy commission found that provincial political parties kept some surprisingly detailed records about voters.
“It’s troubling we live in a country where political parties are so contemptuous of the basic privacy rights of Canadians,” Mr. Balsillie said. “What are they trying to hide?”
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