Protecting privacy? Government and parliamentary responsiveness to the privacy commissioner of Canada

Abstract

AbstractThis article examines the policy influence of the federal privacy commissioner via an analysis of how Parliament and the government of the day have responded to the commissioner’s recommendations. We conduct a systematic analysis of the commissioner’s annual reports on the Privacy Act and a content analysis of appearances before relevant committees of the House of Commons. We then examine the implications of this survey for assessing the overall receptivity of government and parliamentarians to the commissioner’s recommendations. We also undertake a qualitative case study of two bills, passed under two different governments, on anti‐terrorism policy. We trace the influence of, and government responsiveness to, the commissioner’s recommendations throughout the development of these bills. We argue that, while the commissioner has real capacity to influence government policy, the influence is significantly constrained by the willingness of government to engage with the commissioner’s recommendations.