Google tells MPs police search powers bill could ‘facilitate foreign interference’

Minister of Public Safety Gary Anandasangaree attends Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security in Ottawa on Tuesday, May 5, 2026. Photo by HYUNGCHEOL PARK /Postmedia

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OTTAWA — Google and Apple, whose software runs in nearly every phone and tablet in Canada, warned that the Liberals’ lawful access bill poses a “threat” to encryption and their users’ data and could facilitate crimes such as foreign interference.

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Speaking to the House public safety committee Tuesday, representatives from both tech giants said they respect the government’s desire to adopt lawful access reform. They argued that their goal is to balance users’ privacy with the need for law enforcement to have the tools they need.

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But they warned that the Liberals’ controversial Bill C-22 goes too far and needs to be reworked significantly, lest it force them to create a “backdoor” into their encrypted services to users.

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Google and Apple’s software powers over 99 per cent of all cellphones and tablets sold in Canada, as well as a significant portion of portable computers. They also operate a significant portion of the cloud storage business.

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“Our users trust Apple with their most sensitive information. They expect and deserve the strongest protections, that’s why we’re so concerned about the threat to encryption posed by C-22,” said Apple senior director Erik Neuenchwander.

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Google’s Jeanette Patell went a step further, telling MPs that the bill as it stands could force the company to undo many of its security features and open the door to criminals.

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“Without stronger definitions, the law could be used to force the dismantling of critical privacy and architecture, such as breaking encryption, overriding users’ data deletion controls, or building remote access capability, all of which could facilitate foreign interference and weaken global user privacy,” Patell argued.

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The federal Privacy Commissioner Philippe Dufresne also told the committee the Liberals’ lawful access bill is overly broad and should be narrowed to protect Canadians’ rights.

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The government has repeatedly sworn that the new obligations to telecommunications and electronic services providers would not compel them to decrypt encrypted information. They argue the bill would allow them to ask companies to decrypt information if that is already possible, but would not force them to develop ways to unlock encrypted information.

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But, many of the bills’ clauses “don’t compromise encryption directly but try to get at it indirectly by circumventing it or bypassing it. It still have the same impact in terms of the vulnerabilities that they ultimately create,” the Canadian Civil Liberties Association’s Tamir Israel to MPs Tuesday.

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Lawful access, or the ability to obtain Canadians’ private information and intercept communications, is one of the most intrusive powers afforded to police and intelligence agencies. Creating such a regime for the digital age in Canada has been the subject of fierce debate for decades.