QUESTION PERIOD — Public Safety
Cybersecurity
June 3, 2025
Senator Gold, this past March, over 280,000 Nova Scotia Power customers had their personal data stolen in a major cyberattack, including up to 140,000 social insurance numbers, some of which are now circulating on the dark web. This illustrates how vulnerable our critical infrastructure is, both federal and provincial.
Bill C-26, which could have set federal cybersecurity standards, failed due to the government’s own drafting errors and died with prorogation.
Senator Gold, will it take another digital disaster for the government to act, or can we finally bring the provinces and the federal government together to pass a bill that will protect our critical infrastructure?
Well, thank you for underlining how important it is that we take steps — both legislative and otherwise — to protect our critical infrastructure. My understanding is that the bill to which you referred is something that will be dealt with in this Parliament.
I would encourage those listening to explore the importance, not only for government institutions but for businesses, of taking advantage of the assistance of our world-class institutions — notably Communications Security Establishment Canada, or CSE — because as you pointed out, senator, the dangers are enormous. Legislation will be forthcoming to address this.
For the record, colleagues, Canada was the third most targeted country in the world with respect to cyber attacks in 2024. In the first quarter of 2025 alone, there were almost 6 billion intrusion attempts.
The Senate sponsor of Bill C-26 warned that “. . . Without this bill, we do not have the legislative authority to raise the baseline defences of our critical infrastructure. . . .”
Senator Gold, can the Senate be assured that the new bill will be properly drafted this time? Nova Scotians would certainly like to know.
I can give this chamber every assurance that the bills will be drafted with minute and acute attention to detail.
