MONTREAL: On Friday, Andrew Scheer, Leader of Canada’s Conservatives, announced the measures he would take, as Prime Minister, to safeguard Canadians’ personal data online.
“The Trudeau Liberal government has been particularly careless on this front,” said Scheer at the Montreal Chamber of Commerce. “Just recently a Quebec company made headlines, but they are not the only casualty to this crime. Many Canadian companies are at risk of being the next victims of these criminals.”
“It’s past-time the federal government did something to protect Canadians’ information online,” said Scheer.
Increasingly, parts of our lives, important interactions and transactions are moved online. Paying your monthly bills, transferring money between accounts, making large purchases, and investing is all done with the click of a button or the tap of a device. It is vital, that the government adopt new policies and keep up with technology to make sure that Canadians – their money and their personal information – is protected.
A Conservative government would take a three-pronged approach to this issue: sensible regulation, standards and education to ensure that consumers can make informed decisions, and strong oversight at the highest levels of government.
- We will ensure that plain language use agreements are put in place so that companies collecting electronic data must receive informed consent from Canadians.
- We will apply regulatory standards for the ethical and secure use of artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things and create the Canada Cyber Safe brand to ensure that consumers know when products have met rigorous security standards.
- An expert committee with industry leaders will define binding cyber security standards for critical infrastructure sectors and penalties for non- compliance.
“As Prime Minister, I will also establish a Cabinet Committee on Cyber Security and Data Privacy and conduct periodic cyber security penetration testing on all government departments and establish performance benchmarks for senior public servants,” said Scheer.
FACTS :
- Today, Canadians are connected more than ever before, sharing and storing personal information online.
- Only thirty-four percent of companies have data protection and control measures.
- Fifty-four per cent of Canadian businesses were affected by cybersecurity incidents that prevented employees from doing their jobs.
- Justin Trudeau’s Government has failed to take meaningful action on this front and we have seen numerous incidents impacting millions of Canadians.
