Category: commons

Commons Calls for Halt to Collection of COVID 19 Phone Data Over Privacy Concerns

OTTAWA—The House of Commons called on the government Tuesday to suspend plans by the Public Health Agency of Canada to collect data from millions of mobile phones to help understand travel patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic. MPs passed a motion urging the government to suspend a plan to extend the collection of cellphone location data…


Commons Ethics Committee Wants Cellphone Data Collection Halted Over Privacy Concerns

OTTAWA—The House of Commons ethics committee has called for a halt to the Public Health Agency of Canada’s plans to collect data from millions of mobile phones as a way to understand travel patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic. The committee passed a motion Monday calling on the federal government to suspend plans to extend the…


Commons Speaker Reflects on Dispute Over Secret Documents on Scientists’ Firing

OTTAWA—Anthony Rota didn’t relish being the first Speaker in more than a century to publicly rebuke a veteran civil servant for doing what he believed was his legally required duty. But as Speaker of the House of Commons, it fell to Rota to do the bidding of the combined opposition parties last June after they…


Restriction-Free Commons Debate Reveals New UK Political Divide: Masks

A full-capacity House of Commons met without the yoke of pandemic restrictions for the first time in 18 months, revealing a stark new UK political divide: masks. To see which MPs would be wearing masks (still recommended by government guidelines for crowded indoor spaces) political pundits had been expecting to wait until the return of Parliament…