Making Life More Affordable for Canadians Bill
Motion in Amendment--Debate
February 25, 2026
Therefore, honourable senators, in amendment, I move:
That Bill C-4 be not now read a third time, but that it be amended by deleting Part 4.
Thanks very much, Senator Clement. In your speech, you referenced the fact that the Privacy Commissioner, when he came to our committee, indicated that he hadn’t been consulted on this bill. Unfortunately, we have seen in the recent number of months that the government has had other bills where the Privacy Commissioner has not been consulted. I can think of one right off the top of my head, and that’s Bill C-26, the cybersecurity act, which the government has recently revised and made Bill C-8 with some minimal revisions.
The Privacy Commissioner was not consulted on that one. The Intelligence Commissioner was also not consulted on that. Given that, isn’t it correct to infer that it’s not just specific to this act, but there could be other acts on which, unfortunately, the government hasn’t consulted these important officials as well?
Thank you, Senator Batters, for that question.
I reread the transcript of that meeting, and I was quite surprised by the revelation that he wasn’t consulted. Many of us engaged with him on that issue, and I also said to him in response that we have so many commissioners doing such good work. Oftentimes, in their offices, they survey Canadians, they do research, and they provide reports upon reports. I got the sense in that exchange with him that those things are not appropriately consulted when we are making legislation.
I won’t disagree with you. I found that portion of the exchange to be quite uncomfortable because we sit here and appoint commissioners. We interview and grill them. I’m thinking right now of the Official Languages Commissioner from Cornwall. She had a good point: This is what we do. Once we appoint them, these smart people, we should be listening to their reports.
