Ottawa willing to find ways to ‘improve’ maligned cybersecurity bill, minister says

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said the bill introduced last year will ensure Canada has the defences needed to address the many online threats to national security.

The federal public safety minister says he is prepared to work with other parliamentarians to revise the Liberal government’s cybersecurity bill after civil society groups and opposition MPs raised transparency and accountability concerns.

While he is open to changes, Marco Mendicino said in a recent interview the bill that was introduced last year will ensure Canada has the defences needed to address the many online threats to national security.

The government wants to establish a framework to better shield systems vital to security and give authorities new tools to respond to emerging dangers in cyberspace.

Under the bill, key enterprises in the banking and telecommunications industries would be required to improve cybersecurity and report digital attacks, or possibly face penalties.

The bill proposes giving regulators the ability to enforce measures through audit powers and fines, and would allow for criminal sanctions in cases of non-compliance.

Several civil society groups wrote an open letter to Mendicino last fall to push for changes, saying the bill would undermine privacy, accountability and judicial transparency.

The groups said the bill would allow the government to impose new surveillance obligations on private companies, something the public has long rejected as inconsistent with privacy rights.

They said the legislation would also empower the government to bar a person or company from receiving specific services by secret order, and collect broad categories of information from operators, posing a risk for personal data.