QUESTION PERIOD — Privy Council Office
Information Sharing
November 6, 2025
My question is for the Government Representative in the Senate. Senator Moreau, since 2010 Canada has dropped from third to forty-seventh rank in the UN E‑Government Development Index, with only 23% of federal services being fully digital from end to end.
This government’s Digital Ambition 2024-25 called for better data sharing across departments to improve service delivery and public trust. Yet, without a whole-of-government approach, personal data protection relies on thousands of fragmented data- and information-sharing agreements between departments. This is highly inefficient and means that Canadians cannot access seamless service delivery, with 270 single sign-on points spanning 33 departments.
Can the government confirm how many data- and information-sharing agreements currently exist at the federal level?
Unfortunately, I do not have a number to share with you at this time, senator. However, the government is taking every step to ensure that it runs efficiently.
To that end, Budget 2025 announced the government’s intent to set up an office of digital transformation, which will proactively identify, implement and scale technology solutions across the federal government.
As an example, the office will identify and eliminate redundant and counterproductive procurement rules, as well as leverage expertise from internal sources and the private sector to address the issue of AI adoption.
If I obtain more information to answer your question with a figure, I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.
Thank you, Senator Moreau, for that commitment.
We understand that there are as many as 10,000 of these agreements out there, and they’re not being carefully monitored. One of the ways to deal with that is Canada’s Privacy Act, which protects Canadians’ personal information held by the federal government and ensures that it’s collected, used and disclosed for authorized purposes only, and gives them rights. When does the government intend to update and revamp this 40-year-old Privacy Act?
Let me first praise your work on this file. I know you have been very active on it.
While I cannot speculate as to when any potential future legislation may be tabled, I will say that this government takes the privacy rights of Canadians very seriously. That is why the government has taken steps in Budget 2025 to strengthen the privacy of Canadians, including the proposal of amendments to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.
