Ontario Conservatives Back Away from Politicized Digital ID: Report

The government of Ontario has put work on a digital ID for the Canadian province on hold, citing political concerns.

Speaking on background, an “insider” associated with the governing Progressive Conservative party told the Toronto Star that the digital ID project is “now on the back burner.” The report indicates that a substantial base of Progressive Conservative voters are strongly opposed to the concept of digital IDs.

The Conservatives had first announced plans for a “secure digital identity for Ontarians” in 2020, indicating that it would allow residents to store digital versions of their driver’s licenses and health cards in a mobile app. But a growing movement against digital IDs gathered steam as the pandemic went on. In 2022, the right-wing Ontario Party collected signatures for a petition aimed at preventing the launch of digital IDs in the province.

While the Star‘s insiders are now saying it’s a political dead end for the Progressive Conservatives, the project’s hiatus has not yet been confirmed by the party.

The office of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement Minister Todd McCarthy said in a statement that “the government currently does not have an update on its digital strategy but will provide new information as soon as it becomes available.”

While the digital ID concept appears to be increasingly politicized along partisan lines, it has seen considerable traction in Alberta, generally considered the most conservative Canadian province (and currently governed by the United Conservative Party). The Alberta government recently entered into a partnership with ATB Ventures, agreeing to use the latter’s Oliu digital ID platform to verify users of its online e-services.

At the federal level, the Digital ID and Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC) has been working to establish a set of standards for digital ID and authentication systems across the country. It launched its flagship “Pan-Canadian Trust Framework” (PCTF) in 2020 and had certified the Oliu system shortly before the latter’s planned integration into Alberta government services was announced.

Source: Toronto Star

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(Originally published on Mobile ID World)