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Jim Balsillie, retired co-CEO of Research In Motion andchairof the Centre for International Governance Innovation, testified today at the hearings of the International Grand Committee on Big Data, Privacy and Democracy being held in Ottawa. Politicians from Canada and 10 other countries have gathered to consider how best to protect citizens’ privacy and their democracies in the age of big data and social media. Here are his prepared remarks

Committee Members;

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It is my pleasure to testify today to such distinguished public leaders. Data governance is the most important public policy issue of our time. It is cross-cutting, with economic, social and security dimensions. It requires both national policy frameworks and international coordination.

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I would like to start by acknowledging the work of the Canadian members of this Committee. Over the past 3 years, Mr. Zimmer, Mr. Angus and Mr. Erskine-Smith spearheaded a bipartisan effort to deal with data governance. I’m inspired by the seriousness and integrity they bring to this task.