If you care about privacy, the internet, artificial intelligence, social media, free expression, cybersecurity or government surveillance, you probably want to keep an eye on Ottawa this fall.

Because Parliament comes back from its summer break on September 21st, and waiting for MPs and Senators are three important pieces of legislation.

We have Bill C-34, the Safe Social Media Act, which would create an entirely new regulatory regime for social media, online harms and AI chatbots. Including a social media ban for anyone under 16.

We have Bill C-36, the Protecting Privacy and Consumer Data Act, which would repeal and replace the privacy portions of PIPEDA — Canada's private-sector privacy law for the last quarter-century.

And then we have Bill C-22, the Lawful Access Act, 2026, which has already made it through the House of Commons and is now sitting in the Senate.

Each one of these bills would be important on its own.

Taken together, this could be one of the most consequential sessions of Parliament for Canadian privacy and digital policy that we've seen in years.

Hi. My name is David Fraser. I'm a privacy, internet and technology lawyer with the Canadian law firm McInnes Cooper. I also teach Internet and Media Law at the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University.

I've already done detailed episodes on each of these bills, so I'm not going to go through every clause again. I’ll link to the previous episodes below.

Instead, I want to talk about where these bills stand, what they would actually do, and — most importantly — what we should be watching when Parliament gets back to work this fall.