Canada’s three main political parties have been awarded a dishonourable mention in the Canadian Association of Journalists’ (CAJ) Code of Silence annual awards.
The CAJ said the federal Liberal, Conservative and New Democratic parties have each appealed B.C. Supreme Court Justice Gordon Weatherill’s May 2024 decision that said federal political parties are subject to B.C.’s privacy laws.
Weatherill affirmed the right of British Columbians to challenge federal political parties under provincial privacy laws, in order to determine what personal information politicians hold on people and how they are using it.
In a , Weatherill affirmed the earlier decision of special outside adjudicator David Loukidelis that British Columbia’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) is constitutionally applicable to the collection, use and disclosure of personal information in B.C. by federal parties.
The CAJ noted The BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association saying federal political parties have to comply with the Canada Elections Act, but are excluded from all other federal privacy laws.
“As such, without the application of provincial privacy law, parties have few restrictions on what they can do with the personal information of voters,” the CAJ said.
Weatherill’s decision changed that.
“Modern politics is powered by data,” CAJ president Brent Jolly said. “But in 2025, Canadians are largely in the dark about what data parties collect in order to fundraise, campaign and/or target them in their pursuit of political power.”
The Code of Silence Awards are presented annually by the CAJ, the Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University and the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression.
The CAJ said the awards call public attention to government or publicly funded agencies that work hard to hide information to which the public has a right to under access to information legislation.
The CAJ’s 2024 winner in the provincial category will be announced on April 30.
