In a submission to a parliamentary committee, Daniel Therrien said Bill C-11 gives consumers less control over how their data is used by lowering organizations’ consent obligations; creates broad exemptions for companies and lets them self-regulate without clear requirements; and applies his office’s new fining powers to too few violations, while adding an unnecessary tribunal to hear appeals. (The Logic)

Talking point: Therrien has long called for federal data laws and expanded investigation and penalty powers. But the Liberal government did not adopt one of his key principles, that privacy be recognized as a fundamental right in law. Bill C-11 is currently caught in a House of Commons battle between Liberal and Conservative MPs over whether it should be reviewed by the privacy committee—to which the commissioner made his submission—or the industry one. Therrien’s term expires next month.