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Representatives from the Liberals, Conservatives and NDP all testified at the House privacy committee on Tuesday that they don’t sell or rent data they collect on Canadians and that they only purchases data from Info Canada, which is White Pages information, and Canada Post, for change-of-address information.

Trevor Bailey, the privacy officer for the Conservative Party, said 90 per cent of the party’s data is provided to them by supporters. All parties say they restrict access to voter lists and train their staff and volunteers on proper security practices, such as how to avoid cyber attacks.

“I am not particularly worried, based on what I heard today, about the data collection practices of parties, all things considered,” said Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith. “I do worry about third party political activities that don’t have that same accountability to the public.”

Erskine-Smith said he favours creating new privacy rules under the Canada Elections Act, which are specifically tailored to political parties, rather than using Canada’s existing privacy legislation. He said the current situation, with essentially no rules, is the “worst case,” but that it’s important for the government to find “the best way to do this” before acting.

Privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien said in September that the government’s election legislation, Bill C-76, which is still working its way through Parliament, “adds nothing of substance in terms of privacy protection,” and that Canada was in danger of lagging behind the rest of the world on the issue.