One wonders what manner of madness has struck Trudeau.  He seems to be even more undisciplined, erratic and irresponsible than usual.

He called those who refuse to take the COVID-19 vaccinations “bigots”, “racists” and “misogynists”.  What is the connection among these three insulting descriptions? Only Trudeau knows.

The message, however, is clear.  Any individual who doesn’t comply with Trudeau’s agenda is unworthy and may be dehumanized, insulted, ridiculed, and marginalized.  In short, according to Trudeau, such individuals do not have human dignity and deserve no respect.

Spying on Canadians

The federal government under Trudeau undertook secret tracking of Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic.  This actually may become permanent as the government has put out a notice tender for further contracts to continue this tracking.

Canadians are not aware of the extent to which information about their physical location and what they do online is sold and re-sold by a wide range of insurance, credit companies, banks, and firms who conduct data analysis, as well as by artificial intelligence organizations. They are collecting data every single day and are not being scrutinized.  There is also some question as to the extent to which the data is gathered, stored, and sold on a regular basis, without any safeguards as to privacy.

This collection of data has been dubbed “’surveillance capitalism”, where people’s data has become a prized currency for anything from big technology firms to marketing agencies and government.

Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC)

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) claims that the tracking of Canada’s 33 million cellphones was necessary to understand the public’s responsiveness (i.e. the population’s movement) during the pandemic.  This information was acquired by accessing cell tower locations of individual cell phones, and, according to PHAC, the information obtained was without personal identification and for the public good. However, there is no information available as to what protections were put in place to protect the privacy of Canadians in accessing this data.

Unfortunately, Canada’s privacy laws deal only with personal, identifiable information, not the de-identified or anonymized data that the PHAC has acquired. It is obvious that the Privacy Act needs to be updated. It was created in the 1980s and has not received meaningful amendments since that time.  It’s important that transparency, oversight, and governance of personal information be implemented.

Opposition Parties Raise Objections

The three Opposition parties – Conservative, NDP, and the Bloc Quebecois – have asked that the House of Commons Ethics Committee review the program to determine who has access to this data and whether the privacy of Canadian citizens is being adequately protected under it.

Trudeau has never indicated that he is restricted in any way by standard ethical concerns. This data tracking by his government, without the knowledge of Canadians, is one more alarming trend.