Canadians still have some hope that their banking information won’t be used by Statistics Canada to track what they spend their money on.
Federal Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien is launching an investigation into StatsCan’s plan to get banks to give up our banking records to determine consumer trends and spending habits.
Cowichan-Malahat-Langford NDP MP Alistair MacGregor said this review is an important step to make an unbiased, informed decision.
“The debate in the House of Commons can get a little partisan and a little bit political and I think, for such a serious issue, we need to depend on not only a commissioner who is non-partisan, but also a professional office around that commissioner who is experienced in dealing with these types of issues,” said MacGregor.
While StatsCan is requesting that banks hand over the banking records of their customers, to create a massive database on Canadians, without their consent, MacGregor said StatsCan wants to go this route because data collection from phones is no longer reliable.
“Because they don’t seem to be getting very much reliable data from phones anymore, they felt it was necessary,” said MacGregor. “I don’t know why the personal banking information for Canadians is entirely necessary, I just haven’t seen a good enough rationale for that yet.”
Canadians are outraged at this idea and Conservative Deputy Leader, Lisa Raitt says this is not right because wherever you go, whatever you spend money on, the government will know where you are.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau supports the Statistics Canada request.
