OTTAWA — Canada’s privacy watchdogs are collectively calling on all levels of government to force political parties to disclose any personal information they hold on voters and allow for independent oversight to ensure they are respecting the privacy of the electorate. “Information about our political views is highly sensitive and it’s clearly unacceptable that federal and provincial political parties are not subject to privacy laws,” federal privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien said in an interview Monday. The Cambridge Analytica scandal shone a spotlight on how parties use personal data to target voters for political gain. “We have a federal election in a year’s time in Canada and political parties federally are not subject to privacy laws. A the House of Commons privacy committed recommended earlier this year that privacy laws should be extended to cover political parties, and give greater investigative and enforcement powers to the federal privacy commissioner.

Source: National Post September 17, 2018 16:29 UTC