Canadian Data Privacy Laws Are Changing. Is Your Business Ready To Keep Up?

Introduction

On November 17, 2020, Canada's federal government introduced a bill to enact new legislation that would strengthen protections for individuals from privacy loss due to the failures and limitations of corporate consumer privacy measures. The proposed legislation, known as the Consumer Privacy Protection Act (“CPPA”), would be the first major overhaul of Canada's privacy law rules on the private sector since the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”) came into force in April 2000.

If the CPPA passes into law, it will replace the PIPEDA, currently the leading federal privacy law governing federally-regulated corporations and private sector companies in Canadian provinces and territories that do not have their own privacy legislation. The bill to enact the proposed legislation, including the CPPA, is at first reading. The next step would be for it to go to second reading and then to a committee for further review and