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www.canadianlawyermag.com 47 in its report, which will assist in drafting new legislation. Alberta finished gathering feedback on privacy protections in October following a public consultation in August. The province will use the input to update its Personal Information Protection Act and its Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. And Ontario released a white paper in June that outlined what would be the province's first private-sector privacy law. Monetary penalties are likewise steep, with proposed maximum penalties of up to $25 million, or five per cent of the organi- zation's gross global revenues (whichever is higher). Offences include knowingly re-identifying personal information that has been de-identified, seeking retribution against a whistleblower, or obstructing a commissioner in investigating a complaint. "Ontario's white paper mapped onto bill C-11 to some extent," says Scassa. However, "now we won't see a new [federal] bill until this winter, and there's a provincial election in the fall." Ontario may therefore wait to introduce its privacy legislation, while B.C. and Alberta may look to model their laws after what the feds table as early as this winter, she says. "It seems there's a level of universal support to make our privacy legislation more robust" Wendy Mee, Blake, Cassels and Graydon LLP The federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) covers how businesses handle personal information. Three provinces have private- sector privacy laws that may apply instead of PIPEDA: Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec. Four provinces have health- related privacy laws substantially similar to PIPEDA's: Ontario, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nova Scotia. CANADA'S CURRENT PRIVATE-SECTOR PRIVACY LEGISLATION Source: Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada