Commons Committee Approves Therrien as Privacy Commissioner

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Commons committee have given a green signal to Daniel Therrien to become Canada’s next privacy commissioner. The access to information and privacy committee, evidently dominated by the Conservatives, voted on Tuesday to recommend that Parliament approve Therrien’s appointment, following 50 minutes of testimony from him.

The Justice Department lawyer was heard saying on Tuesday that “my role as privacy commissioner, if my appointment is confirmed, would be to be a champion for privacy rights.” Meanwhile, The New Democrats still opposed Therrien’s appointment, and called the committee’s review a “sham” and alleged that the eight hours of testimony with experts and former commissioners would’ve been better. NDP MP, Charlie Angus, stated that “I’m very sorry, Mr. Therrien, that this is being played out on your watch,” adding that “I think it has the potential impact to damage your ability to do your job because of the tainted manner in which this government has approached this.” Meanwhile, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair allegedly made up his mind on Therrien even before the committee met, informing the Commons on Monday that the appointment was like putting Col. Sanders “in charge of the hen house.”

In his remarks, Therrien alleged that he’s never had trouble standing up to ministers before, and so he wouldn’t shy away from that as privacy commissioner either. He stated that “I’ve had actually the occasion to give advice to ministers that what they were proposing to do might be illegal, unlawful and I’ve never shied away from that — always trying to provide a lawful alternative.”

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