Check It Out: Is digital ID about convenience or control?
By Joan Janzen
Do you know why leopards find it difficult to hide? The answer to the riddle is: because wherever they hide, they’re always spotted. This week I’ll take a look at things hidden within the federal government’s budget that have been spotted.
In her December newsletter, MP Leslyn Lewis spotted a major shift in our country hidden inside Budget 2025, using language that is far too technical for most Canadians to understand. Let’s face it, the average Canadian won’t be reading Budget 2025, but Lewis studied it closely.
Buried within the 636 pages of Bill C-15 is a shift in how things operate in Canada. Lewis noted, “The government is not only automating and outsourcing decision-making to AI; it is also seeking to concentrate power and control in the process and how we are regulated.”
On a recent podcast, David Krayden spoke about how the federal government is quietly moving forward with a national digital ID system, slipping the plan into the depths of the 2025 budget where almost no one would notice. On page 490, it says digital services would particularly benefit groups facing barriers due to outdated, paper-based processes, particularly seniors, newcomers, persons with disabilities and rural residents. Lower-income people may also benefit, as these amendments would make it easier to access income support programs and benefits. These amendments would also benefit Canadians by reducing the burden of repeatedly providing personal information across government services.
However, Krayden observed that convenience could easily transition into a form of control, and digital ID is the gateway to the carbon credit system, where every purchase, trip and choice is tracked.
Krayden showed evidence that the Government of Canada has silently deployed a digital wallet on the Google Play Store for digital ID. Canadians were invited to be the first to try the app in its development stages and provide feedback. At the EU-Canada Digital Partnership Council, cooperation with Canada was reinforced to boost competitiveness, innovation and economic resilience.
An example of how Europe is introducing digital ID was given by podcaster Survival Lily, who lives in Austria. Five months ago, she received a letter from healthcare offering her a monetary bonus; however, in order to receive it, she would need to go to the government website and get her digital ID. “They are slowly forcing the population to use the app, but first they are trying to lure us in with a bonus,” she said.
She gave the example of a teacher who was threatened with dismissal if she didn’t sign up for digital ID. And in order for farmers to be able to apply for subsidies offered through the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy, they require a digital ID.
“The European Union is introducing the digital euro,” she added, which will require Europe’s citizens to have a digital ID. This digital money wouldn’t be at a financial institution. Instead, it will be located directly at the European Central Bank.
“The digital money is programmable,” she added, which means there can be restrictions as to where you can use it. “This is where the carbon footprint comes into play, and government overreach.”
She displayed a recent news headline which said, “Government agrees on messenger surveillance.” She also said citizens are now forced to pay a mandatory fee for government-sponsored television, even if they don’t watch it.
Meanwhile in Canada, David Krayden observed that digital ID could be required in order to receive unemployment insurance, for travel, healthcare, in order to vote, and is the gateway to the carbon credit system, where every choice you make is tracked. So is digital ID about convenience or control?
In her newsletter, Lewis said people hear the word infrastructure and usually think it refers to investments in material projects like roads, bridges and buildings. However, the budget has created a new definition of infrastructure, as it directs huge amounts of resources towards digital systems. Lewis notes these systems “will increasingly shape how Canadians live and how government operates.”
In Budget 2025, the Canada Infrastructure Bank controls $45 billion in taxpayer dollars and is focusing on expanding “AI infrastructure projects.”
Lewis pointed out the creation of an Office of Digital Transformation on page 214 of the budget, a new program to track how Canadians are using digital technologies on page 92, and the modernization of digital compliance systems on page 146.
This is a digital infrastructural overhaul of government quietly introduced without any national conversation. It sounds technical, but what it does is influence how your applications are approved or denied, how you are identified, and how automated systems interpret your actions. Previously, these judgements were made by humans. This shift would take out the human values of compassion, discretion and fairness in decision-making.
Technology is definitely convenient and helpful, but at the same time it can jeopardize personal freedom when decisions are made without any human input.
Lewis emphasizes the impact these changes will have on Canadians, and yet they’re hidden within a lengthy budget, so people are unaware and unable to have a say in the decisions that are made.
“A redesign of this scale should never be hidden in technical budget language,” Lewis wrote. “Canadians deserve full transparency and a real voice in choosing a digital future that strengthens, rather than diminishes, our humanity.”