By: Brad McNeil, PhD Candidate (McMaster University)
This brief blog post traces Microsoft’s lobbying activity in February 2023. Microsoft submitted only one communication report to the Registry of Lobbyist in February 2023. This blog post follows up on Microsoft’s earlier lobbying communication reports from November and December 2022 and uses news articles to contextualize Microsoft’s current lobbying goals. This blog post also reports government contracts valued over $10,000 that Microsoft signed form January through February.
Although Microsoft lobbyists were busy through November and December 2022, Microsoft did not log any lobbying communications reports for January 2023 and only registered one meeting in February 2023. On February 13, 2023, Chris Barry, President of Microsoft Canada, met with a Policy Advisor of the Prime Minister’s Office to discuss “privacy and access to information”. Microsoft’s profile on the registry of lobbyists website notes that the corporation is “Communicating with the Government of Canada about Bill C-27 (Digital Charter Implementation Act, 2022), more specifically the creation of the Consumer Privacy Protection Act, the Personal Information and Data Protection Tribunal Act, and the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act.” Microsoft’s February meeting may have been a continuation of talks about Bill C-27. As noted in a previous monthly update blog post, Minister François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry and sponsor of Bill C-27 states that the Bill contains four principle objectives: 1) Gives people more control of their data online, 2) Protects children’s information 3) Addresses the responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) 4) Brings Canada’s privacy laws into the 21st century. Currently, Bill C-27 is at second reading in the House of Commons. The Bill contains multiple acts related to digital privacy, but it also includes the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA). Additionally, Catharine Tunney of the CBC notes that Bill C-27 would force companies to “obtain consent from customers through plain language – not a long, jargon-filled legal document – before using their personal data.” The Bill would also give Canadians the right to request deletion of their personal data collected by corporations. Should digital corporations fail to comply with the privacy rules set put by Bill C-27, they could face “fines of up to five per cent of global revenue or $25 million — whichever is greater — for the most serious offences.” According to Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains, Bill C-27 would provide “the heaviest fines among the G7 nations’ privacy laws.” Undoubtedly, Microsoft seeks to understand how AiDA may challenge the companies plans to incorporate ChatGPT’s artificial intelligence into its Bing search engine and Edge web browser which will serve as AI banisters for Microsoft users navigating their way through the web. Although Microsoft did not file any lobbying communication reports in January 2023, the company did sign two government contracts over $10,000. On January 1, Microsoft signed a contract valued at $10,339.94 with Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada for work related to computer equipment (servers). On January 6, Microsoft signed a contract valued at $12,992.46 with the National Film Board for work related to “License/Maintenance fees for client software related to Distributed Computing Environment (DCE)”.
| Communication Date | Lobbied | Subject Matters | Responsible Officer |
| 2023-02-13 | Lionel-Fritz Adimi, Policy Advisor Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) | Privacy and Access to Information | Chris Barry |