ETHI Committee Meeting

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Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics

NUMBER 037

1st SESSION

41st PARLIAMENT

EVIDENCE

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

[Recorded by Electronic Apparatus]

(1100)

[Translation]

The Chair (Mr. Pierre-Luc Dusseault (Sherbrooke, NDP)):

Good morning, everyone. As per the agenda, we will begin with Ms. Borg's motion.

First, I would like to inform you that we have received the government's response regarding the report on the CBC. A paper version is not yet available, but the report will soon appear on the committee's website. We can eventually distribute it to the members of the committee, as needed.

I will yield the floor to Ms. Borg, who will talk about her motion.

Ms. Charmaine Borg (Terrebonne—Blainville, NDP):

Thank you.

At the last committee meeting, we talked about examining the measures taken by Facebook and other social media to protect Canadians' personal information. I think this is a very important motion, and a study on the topic would be equally important. The motion is the following:

That the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics study the efforts and the measures taken by Google, Facebook and other social media to protect the personal information of Canadians, and that the committee report its findings back to the House.

It is becoming increasingly obvious that not all Canadians necessarily know what social networks are and what Facebook, Google and Twitter are doing with their personal information. Those media are becoming large warehouses of personal data. That's a special concern for me, and since 17 million people use Facebook across Canada, I think it's also a concern for most Canadians.

I think this issue is made all the more crucial by the fact that social media are also used by seniors and young people, who are considered to be more vulnerable when it comes to risks related to personal information. The need to study this issue is understandable. The matter has been covered extensively by newspapers and other similar outlets. We saw the example of Walmart, which, after buying the Facebook calendar, decided to sell products based on the personal information provided by that application. Is that a trend? I would like to know. I think that, as parliamentarians, we would benefit from looking at this whole phenomenon, and that would include all the stakeholders.

I hope that the government members will vote in favour of my motion. I think the committee could do some good work with regard to this. I am eager to look into all these issues, and I hope to have your support. Thank you.

The Chair:

I yield the floor to Mr. Del Mastro.

[English]

Mr. Dean Del Mastro (Peterborough, CPC):

I move that the committee moves in camera for the discussion of committee business.

[Translation]

The Chair:

This motion cannot be debated. So we will move on to the vote.

[English]

Mr. Charlie Angus (Timmins—James Bay, NDP):

Can we have a recorded vote, please?

[Translation]

The Chair:

The vote has already begun. Therefore, we cannot proceed in that way.

(Motion carried)

The Chair:

I will adjourn the meeting for a few minutes.

[Proceedings continue in camera]