Overview of Legislation and Studies

Lead Directorate: Policy, Research and Parliamentary Affairs Directorate

Issue

• Parliament is Canada’s legislature, the federal institution with the power to make laws, to raise taxes, and to authorize government spending. The Parliament of Canada is “bicameral”, meaning it has two chambers, the Senate and the House of Commons.
• Proposed government legislation is introduced in one of the two chambers, usually the House of Commons, by a Minister. Once introduced, a Bill is subject to a detailed process of review, debate, examination and amendment through both Houses before it is ready to receive final approval. The House of Commons also considers items of Private Members’ Business; that is, Bills and motions proposed by members who are not cabinet ministers.
• Committees are mandated to oversee one or more government departments and are charged with the review of relevant legislation, departmental operations and expenditures and the effectiveness of departments’ policies and programs. Committees are free to initiate any study related to their mandate.
• To become law, all legislation must be adopted by both Houses in identical form and receive Royal Assent.

Background

• The Policy, Research and Parliamentary Affairs Directorate’s Parliamentary Affairs Team is currently monitoring and tracking the following Bills:
  • Bill C-5, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act;
  • Bill C-11, An Act to amend the Broadcasting Act and to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts;
  • Bill C-19, Budget Implementation Act, 2022, No. 1;
  • Bill S-4, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Identification of Criminals Act and to make related amendments to other Acts (COVID-19 response and other measures);
  • Bill S-6, An Act respecting regulatory modernization;
  • Bill S-7, An Act to amend the Customs Act and the Preclearance Act, 2016 (the OPC appeared on June 6, 2022);
  • Bill S-210, An Act to restrict young persons’ online access to sexually explicit material (the OPC appeared on a previous iteration of this Bill in the most recent parliamentary session);
  • Bill S-212, An Act to amend the Criminal Records Act, to make consequential amendments to other Acts and to repeal a regulation (various iterations of this Bill have been tabled in previous sessions); and
  • Bill S-231, An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Criminal Records Act, the National Defence Act and the DNA Identification Act.
• Currently, the Policy, Research and Parliamentary Affairs Directorate is tracking 15 studies taking place or scheduled to take place in committee. The most important for the OPC is currently the study on the Use of Facial Recognition Technology before the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics (ETHI). Commissioner Therrien appeared in May 2022, and the OPC is expecting the report to be released in the near future.

Current status

• Some of the above-mentioned bills and studies are expected to continue to progress until the House of Commons adjourns for the summer, expected in June 2022.

Strategic considerations

• There may be a requirement for the Privacy Commissioner or other OPC officials to appear before a parliamentary committee to provide guidance and insight on various bills or studies.

Next steps

• Parliamentary Affairs will continue to monitor the progression of the above-mentioned items and note when action from the Commissioner is required.

Further reading

• Briefing Note, Highlights from the 2021 Mandate Letters, January 2022.