Senators have agreed to keep a section in the government’s affordability bill that would exempt federal political parties from privacy laws.

The decision temporarily staves off a fight with the House, which easily approved Bill C-4 in the fall.

Senators voted 42 to 23 on Thursday to reject an amendment from Sen. Bernadette Clement that would remove the entire section of the legislation that deals with the privacy regime for political parties.

The bill remains at third reading in the Senate and more amendments could be moved.

Most of Bill C-4 is focused on tax changes.

The bill cuts the lowest tax rate from 15 to 14 per cent and eliminates the GST on new homes priced up to $1 million for first-time buyers.

But it also includes a section to exempt political parties from provincial privacy laws.

Political parties are already exempt from federal privacy laws.

Bill C-4 only requires parties to come up with their own privacy policies and have one annual meeting with the Chief Electoral Officer.

Parties that fail to comply with their own privacy policies could face administrative monetary penalties from the Commissioner of Canadian Elections, though the maximum fines range from $5,000 for a party to $1,500 for a person.

The bill also provides retroactive exemptions for the parties back to 2000. This is likely because of a 2024 decision by B.C.’s Supreme Court that ruled that the federal Liberal party had to comply with the province’s privacy law.

Canada’s three major political parties have lined up in support of the bill, defending the changes as a way to exert federal jurisdiction and claiming that political parties are unique entities that should be treated differently than corporations.

They argued C-4 aims to create a single, national privacy regime and clarifies that jurisdiction over federal political parties lands with Parliament and not provincial legislatures.

Critics have countered that the issue isn’t jurisdiction but instead the lack of a strong federal regime.

Both chambers must agree to pass identical versions of legislation before it receives royal assent and becomes law. If changes are made to the bill in the Senate, the House would have to pass a motion to either accept the amendments or reject them.

If those changes are rejected, the Senate would then have to vote on whether to insist on its amendments. This continues until both chambers are in agreement, though it’s rare for the Senate to insist on its changes after they’ve been rejected by the House.

More to come…