OpenMedia's research report sheds light on dozens of secretive businesses that handle people's sensitive voting behaviour data on behalf of federal political parties in Canada - with few effective rules limiting their actions.
This statement was originally published on openmedia.org on 23 July 2024.
Political parties are collecting our data on a massive scale. What does that mean for Canadian democracy?
Have you ever spoken with a canvasser at election time? Signed a petition organized by a political party? Or answered a phone call from a candidate asking which political issues are most important to you?
If so, chances are that your personal information — including records of all those interactions and more — is residing in a political party database, alongside that of most other Canadian voters.
But what do political parties actually do with all this data? Who are the companies that help them to collect it, analyze it, and use it to target voters like you? And what are the social, legal, and political implications of all this for Canadian democracy?
Today, OpenMedia is releasing a new report that takes a deep dive into all these questions, and more. Inspired by the groundbreaking investigative work into the global Political Influence Industry carried out by our friends at Tactical Tech, our report sheds light on the extent and nature of the Political Influence Industry right here in Canada. Accompanying our report, we’re also publishing a Canadian Political Influence Industry Database of the companies, large and small, who are employed by Canadian political parties to leverage their data for election campaigns.
This work is funded through two research grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, administered through the University of Victoria by Professor Colin Bennett, one of Canada’s top privacy experts. We hope our report helps to better inform Canadians about the Political Influence Industry, and stimulate a wider debate about its role in our democracy.
So is there something wrong with how parties are handling your data? Of course, interactions between voters and those who seek to represent them are at the heart of any healthy democracy. And there’s nothing inherently wrong with political parties seeking a better understanding of their voters’ concerns. But, as our report outlines, Canada stands almost alone amongst advanced democracies in having next to no safeguards to ensure political parties handle your data responsibly.
That’s not acceptable and it needs to change. Here at OpenMedia, we know that the right to privacy is fundamental to our democratic process. That’s why our community has, for many years, been fighting for stronger privacy safeguards — exposing the inadequacies of the political parties’ privacy policies, fighting back against their self-serving political and legal attempts to permanently exclude themselves from privacy rules, and urging lawmakers to take action. Tens of thousands of you have already spoken out, and the report we’re publishing today would never have been possible without your help — our small team here couldn’t be more thankful.
Without further ado…
Explore our report, and download your PDF copy!
Check out our accompanying database:
We’ve embedded the database below, but for ease-of-use we recommend you click here to access the full-screen version. You can also use the Filter function in the menu bar to sort through the database, based on criteria including the categories of work the companies are engaged with, the political levels at which they operate, and the political parties they work for.
Additionally, clicking the double-headed arrow to the left of each company’s name will bring up a card with all relevant details about that company.
Last but not least, if you work for a company featured in the database and believe an update is necessary to your details, you can let us know by contacting us here.
