Canadian tech companies say they are patching together their own standards, mostly borrowed from European laws, to guide them through the limbo of prorogation.
When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prorogued Parliament until March 24, that automatically wiped tabled cybersecurity, privacy, artificial intelligence, data and online harms bills from the agenda.
Tech companies which had eagerly been watching them wind through Parliament were then faced with the reality that for these bills to become law, they would have to be reintroduced and go through readings and debate once more or be reinstated at their previous stage through unanimous consent of the House or a motion to that effect.
91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 another kick down, right?91裸聊视频� said Will Christodoulou, co-founder of Toronto-based fintech startup Cyder.
91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 going to have to get reread in Parliament and going to have to go through all those processes again 91裸聊视频� but it91裸聊视频檚 like, when is that going to be?91裸聊视频�
While companies wait for Parliament to reconvene and then decide which bills to revive, many say they are choosing the most advanced and strict international regulations to abide by.
In most cases, those regulations come from Europe.
91裸聊视频淎 lot of things they do, we typically would just copy,91裸聊视频� Christodoulou said.
Patricia Thaine, the co-founder and chief executive of data protocol firm Private AI, agreed.
Without updated Canadian legislation, she said most large companies will likely comply with the most stringent regulations 91裸聊视频� namely the European Union91裸聊视频檚 General Data Protection Regulation 91裸聊视频� and then make adaptations for other markets they91裸聊视频檙e in with more local requirements.
GDPR is an expansive piece of legislation that requires anyone handling the data of EU citizens or residents to only keep personally identifying information for as long as necessary and ensure any processing prioritizes security, integrity, and confidentiality.
Violating the law comes with high penalties that max out at the higher of 鈧�20 million or four per cent of global revenue. Users also have the right to seek compensation for damages.
Bill C-27 was set to modernize Canada91裸聊视频檚 Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), which dates back to 2000 but had one of its last major updates in 2015.
The bill would have created three new acts rooted in consumer privacy, data protection and AI guardrails. Increased fines for certain serious contraventions of the law would be the higher of five per cent of gross global revenue or $25 million.
Thaine said she saw value in Bill C-27 because PIPEDA fines are 91裸聊视频減retty low, so there isn91裸聊视频檛 that much incentive for companies to actually comply with data protection regulations.91裸聊视频�
91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 a pretty outdated legislation that we91裸聊视频檙e dealing with here and I worry as a Canadian about what data-handling practices are out there for the data that we provide to companies,91裸聊视频� she said.
She also saw it as important for the country to offer direction around AI.
91裸聊视频淣ot having an AI legislation itself just really lets companies decide for themselves what it is that they need to do, which 91裸聊视频� can lead to certain questionable decisions,91裸聊视频� she said.
But Antoine Guilmain, a partner at Gowling WLG and co-lead of the firm91裸聊视频檚 national cybersecurity and data protection law group, argued 91裸聊视频渋t91裸聊视频檚 not like there91裸聊视频檚 nothing in Canada at the moment.91裸聊视频�
PIPEDA is 91裸聊视频渘ot as modern as we would like it to be91裸聊视频� but 91裸聊视频渋t91裸聊视频檚 still something that works,91裸聊视频� he said.
The federal government also has a voluntary AI code of conduct any organization can sign. Signatories promise to outfit their AI systems with risk mitigation measures, use adversarial testing to uncover vulnerabilities in such systems and keep track of any harms the technology causes.
Then, there are the provinces filling in the gaps. Guilmain pointed to Law 25 in Quebec, which requires organizations to have privacy officers, report privacy breaches and increase transparency and consent required to collect personal information.
The law can be used as a reference for organizations who were watching Bill C-27 along with Bill C-26 and Bill C-72.
Bill C-26, which made it all the way to the Senate before it was amended and sent back to the House of Commons, would have boosted cybersecurity requirements for federally regulated industries.
Bill C-72, which made it to its second reading at the House of Commons, would have made it easier for information to be securely shared between health care providers, patients and tech firms offering medical services.
Robert Fraser had his eye on the interoperability bill because his Vancouver-based firm, Molecular You, offers personalized health assessments that often rely on medical data.
Interoperability has long been 91裸聊视频渁 challenge91裸聊视频� in Canada, especially when the country is compared with the U.K. and U.S., where Fraser has observed more progress.
91裸聊视频淭ime doesn91裸聊视频檛 seem to matter so much in Canada. We take a leisurely pace,91裸聊视频� he said.
91裸聊视频淚91裸聊视频檓 sure politicians are working very hard and lawmakers the same, but it91裸聊视频檚 frustrating, I think, to an industry that really wants to get things done. We don91裸聊视频檛 have all the time in the world.91裸聊视频�
