In his annual report, outgoing privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien reiterated his longstanding calls for the federal government to adopt rights-based laws governing how organizations use people’s personal information. (The Logic)

Talking point: Originally appointed in June 2014, Therrien has investigated several high-profile cases including Facebook and Cambridge Analytica and Clearview AI. Some of the regulator’s efforts “fell short due to major flaws in our laws,” he told reporters Thursday. But Therrien said he’s “more optimistic” after Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne last week told The Logic he plans to introduce updated privacy legislation next year, and that it will address algorithms. Therrien had called for significant changes to the Liberals’ earlier Bill C-11. “There’s definitely a sector in society … that believes that stronger privacy protection is an impediment to innovation [and] economic growth,” he said, a tradeoff he rejects. “That may well have had some role in why the government has not yet adopted a position like the one I’m advocating.” Therrien noted Germany and South Korea out-innovate Canada despite rights-based privacy regimes, while Quebec’s recently enacted Bill 64—the most stringent in the country—has not prompted the exit of local AI companies.