Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Prime Minister prorogues parliament, privacy legislation in limbo

It's official, the Prime Minister is proroguing parliament until the beginning of March: CBC News - Politics - PM seeks Parliament shutdown until March. (Never mind that they've been on vacation since November.)

This means that a number of privacy-affecting bills are being forced into a coma. The list includes:

  • Bill C-27 - Electronic Commerce Protection Act (Second Reading in the Senate and Referred to Committee on December 15, 2009) (aka Anti-spam Act);
  • Bill C-46 - Investigative Powers for the 21st Century Act (Referred to Committee on October 27, 2009);
  • Bill C-47 - Technical Assistance for Law Enforcement in the 21st Century Act (Referred to Committee on October 29, 2009);

The media is also reporting that, in the meantime, Harper plans to fill five vacant senate seats, which will give the Conservatives the majority they need to ensure safe passage of their legislation.

1 comment:

Patrick Ross said...

I believe the legislation to dismantle the long gun registry -- I don't really believe that privacy law is the proper lens for such legislation, but some people seem to -- will be postponed as well by this proroguement.

It's unfortunate when important pieces of business get put off under these circumstances, but it happens periodically.