New poll: political parties dead last on privacy trust

Ipsos survey finds strong public support for effective privacy rules and external oversight of federal political parties. 

April 22, 2026 – A new national IPSOS poll commissioned by the BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA), the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), Centre for Digital Rights (CDR) and OpenMedia finds that people in Canada reject the status quo that lets federal political parties write their own rules. 

The poll of 2,000 respondents found that federal political parties are the least trusted of every institution tested— just 33% of people trust them to protect personal information to some degree, while 60% have little or no trust at all. The poll showed highly consistent support for putting privacy rules in place, including: 

• 80% say federal political parties should follow the same privacy rules as businesses and public sector organizations; 
• 84% say people should have the right to access their personal information held by parties; 
• 85% support the right to request correction or deletion of information held by parties; 
• 83% want significant penalties when parties misuse or breach data; 
• Just 10% support party self-regulation, the de facto status quo. 

The results contrast sharply with recent moves by the main federal political parties to avoid any meaningful oversight of their activities. These moves have included court challenges and forcing through legislation that effectively excludes them from any meaningful privacy protections. 

FIPA, CCLA, CDR and OpenMedia are today launching a joint campaign at voterprivacy.ca urging people to sign House of Commons petition e-7237, which calls on Parliament to impose enforceable privacy obligations — including meaningful rights of access and independent oversight — on federal political parties before the next federal election. 

Learn more about the petition at: voterprivacy.ca

Learn about the survey from the coalition at: voterprivacy.ca/ipsossurvey

Read the Ipsos factum at: https://www.ipsos.com/en-ca/protections-wanted-how-federal-political-parties-use-personal-information

Quotes from the Coalition 

"Canadians have been clear: they don't trust political parties with their personal information without real external oversight, rules," said Matt Hatfield, Executive Director of OpenMedia. "The numbers on this one aren't close. It's time for Parliament to stop self-dealing, and start protecting voters." 

FIPA President Mike Larsen said, “This polling shows that Canadians do not think federal political parties should be allowed to operate under weaker privacy rules than everyone else. People expect equal treatment under the law, meaningful rights over their personal information, and independent oversight when those expectations are not met.” 

Larsen added, “The results also reveal a troubling public knowledge gap. Many Canadians understand that political parties collect and use personal information, but they do not yet realize how limited their rights are once that information is in party hands. When people learn about that gap, support for reform is strong.” 

“In the age of data-driven political campaigning, people’s privacy has never been at greater risk as political parties are pushed to collect and use more intrusive tools in a race to the bottom”, said Howard Sapers, Executive Director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. “Yet our main federal political parties have consistently avoided meeting baseline privacy standards—or any rules at all--ensuring that Canada falls further and further behind our peers in terms of voter privacy. “ 

About the poll 

These are the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between April 7 and 8 2026. These data were statistically weighted by region, age, gender and education to ensure the sample composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to Census data. The precision of Ipsos polls containing online data is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the overall poll is accurate to within +/- 2.7 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all adult Canadian residents been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error. 

Media Contacts 

Mike Larsen, President, Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, +1 (604) 739-9788 | [email protected]

Matt Hatfield, Executive Director, OpenMedia +1 (888) 441-2640 ext. 0 | p[email protected]

Tamir Israel, Director, Privacy, Surveillance & Technology Program, Canadian Civil Liberties Association | [email protected]