The federal government on Tuesday said it is willing to shorten the time electronic service providers would be required to keep users’ metadata under a proposed lawful access bill, but is dismissing Conservative calls to split the controversial bill in two.

The provision that could require service providers to retain certain metadata — including transmission and location data — for up to one year is included in Part 2 of Bill C-22, which has also prompted pushback from tech companies for measures they say could weaken encryption and security. That section has raised alarm from privacy experts and opposition parties.

In a letter Tuesday to Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree, Conservative public safety critic Frank Caputo said the party was prepared to support quickly passing Part 1 of the bill on its own, which would give police expanded powers to seek judicial warrants for subscriber information and other data for the purposes of an investigation. That part of the bill has garnered broader support.

“This would give law enforcement a large chunk of what they have requested from Parliament,” Caputo wrote. “Part 2 requires further study on encryption, metadata, significant government powers and secret ministerial orders.”

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Speaking to Global News, Anandasangaree’s spokesperson Simon Lafortune dismissed the Conservatives’ request.

“Our position is that splitting the bill is not an option,” he said.

Lafortune, however, said the government was prepared to shorten the metadata retention period after further consultations on the bill, which Anandasangaree first told the Canadian Press in an interview.

Lafortune told Global News the government was aiming to change the retention period to at least six months, and shorter than one year.

The minister had previously told the public safety committee and reporters that the one-year maximum was reasonable and wouldn’t be changed, but would be putting forward other amendments to make clear that encryption would not be compromised by the measures in C-22.

The government is expected to propose changes to the bill at the House of Commons public safety committee, which is going through the legislation clause by clause.

More to come…

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