Even as Prime Minister Mark Carney told Canadians he had no plans to introduce a digital ID into Canada, his government was working to prepare the launch of new digital ID infrastructure and a government of Canada wallet app. Carney is saying one thing and doing another – and Canadians must ask to what end?
It was only six weeks between when Carney said there were no plans for a Canadian digital ID (at that time he was with U.K. PM Keir Starmer who just announcement the BritCard, a mandatory digital ID for all citizens) and when the Liberals delivered their budget, with the announcement of a new national digital ID system buried deep within the omnibus legislation. The Canadian digital ID system will be rolled out to process those collecting Employment Insurance or Old Age Security.
There has been no cabinet minister speak to the initiative. Legacy media has not reported on the government initiative. If it were not for Blacklock’s Reporter, Juno News, Epoch Times, and a half dozen independent journalists in social media and on Substack, Canadians would know nothing about Carney’s digital ID activity.
Blacklock’s Reporter has tracked the creation of the new digital ID system for years. In fall 2024, it was reported that “federal regulators yesterday said they are ‘working to establish digital credentials’ for the public without parliamentary go-ahead.” At that time, the federal department of Shared Services Canada issued a notice, “With more business conducted online, the Government of Canada and interested partners need a common set of capabilities to enable people to be issued, hold and present these types of credentials to make trusted claims about themselves in ways that are user friendly, cryptographically secure, privacy respecting, machine verifiable and to prevent misuse of their credentials by others.”
In May 2025, the Carney Liberals hired a team of federal consultants to centralize at least 60 different ways the public accesses federal documents into one digital ID system. No public mention, no announcement. Yet, Blacklock’s Reporter unearthed a government memo where the Carney Liberals claimed that it is “proceeding with procurements for issuing and verifying digital credentials” because they are “secure, digital versions of physical documents like work permits or boating licenses that can be stored in a digital wallet.” The plan is to move toward a centralized, “single sign-in portal” that would replace the government’s current 60 different systems.
About the same time, European Union head Ursula von der Leyen was championing a digital ID wallet for the EU, stating a new EU-wide digital ID will be welcomed: “any citizen can use them anywhere in Europe, to do anything from paying your taxes to renting a bicycle.” Europe has been working for years on a complex system that will include interoperable payment systems, digital IDs, data-sharing systems, and civil registry databases.
The new EU digital ID system is a key component of the UN’s 2030 Agenda, as explained in a UN infomercial: “The United Nations is ready to digitally transform how it deals with identity, with a system to streamline information sharing, daily workflows, access to platforms and buildings. All of your personal… medical, travel, security… and pension data in the palm of your hand. With blockchain and biometrics, the UN digital ID makes verification… transparent, immutable, portable and universal…. As innovation transforms the world, we can improve the way we manage our identities online. UN digital IDs—a building block for digital cooperation, unlocking the promise of the SDGs [Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals].”
Carney was with von der Leyen in late June to sign a Canada-EU MOU that forms a strategic partnership between the EU and Canada, including a “bilateral digital trade relationship.” The Carney government is linking Canada’s computing infrastructure with Europe’s in order to “establish interoperable digital identities and digital credentials to facilitate interactions between our citizens and our businesses.”
With all this happening behind the scenes, still, in late September, Carney told Canadians there were no plans to introduce a digital ID system in Canada.
Then on Nov. 4, the Liberals’ fall budget revealed in the fine print that the Carney cabinet is proceeding with a digital ID system to process claimants of employment insurance and old age security. A budgetary note stated, the department of employment and social development act will “enable the delivery of more integrated and efficient services across government.” There was no legal text available but the note continued, “These amendments would benefit all Canadians by enabling the development of more efficient and convenient government services. Modernizing legislative authorities to support information sharing and digital services would particularly benefit groups facing barriers due to outdated, paper-based processes, particularly seniors.”
Again, there has been no cabinet minister speak to this initiative. No legacy media has reported on the government’s digital ID initiative. Canadians need to be asking, why the silence?
During the last week of Parliament, while MPs were scurrying to get last minute legislative work completed before their six-week break, news leaked out on three significant developments relating to the Liberals’ digital ID plans. First, the European Commission issued a press release, “European Union and Canada strengthen their digital partnership with a focus on artificial intelligence, digital identity wallets and independent media.” It was in the European media that Canadians first learned that their government was partnering with the EU to “facilitate joint testing of digital credential technologies, drive pilot projects, and share information.” The partnership is moving forward to “develop joint use cases and pilot projects towards interoperability of digital identity wallets and digital credentials and trust services.” The joint statement suggests that Canada and EU will share digital ID technologies and databases.
Second, the Carney government is considering a “digital ID passport” for Canadians’ domestic travel. Through an Access to Information request Blacklock’s Reporter found internal government research probing the possibility of a domestic passport. A government questionnaire asked, “How comfortable would you be sharing a secure digital version of the passport within Canada as an identity document?” According to the research, 64 per cent said they were interested and 18 per cent were opposed. Government officials are now examining enforcement options for a nationwide digital ID system.
Third, the government of Canada has silently deployed a digital wallet app for digital IDs and it has been made available on the Google Play Store. No government announcement – and no statement or explanation of its text pilot program. The description for the GC (Government of Canada) Wallet – Beta states, “it only currently supports specific digital credentials as part of a limited Government of Canada trial phase. These credentials include Digital Personnel Licences with Transport Canada (TC), and digital Temporary Resident Visas with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).” Participants in the pilot program are instructed to “Scan, verify, and share with confidence. Use your device’s camera to scan QR codes and import credentials issued by authorized institutions. Present your digital documents using dynamic QR codes or secure on-screen displays, making it easy to verify your identity and other information at airport boarding gates and other checkpoints.”
So, like the U.K.’s BritCard and EU’s Digital Euro, the Carney Liberals are quickly implementing a digital ID and wallet system for Canada. Our digital ID will provide the means to “conveniently” access government services and remain compliant with new international frameworks. It will evolve into a useful tool to allow for easier movement and activities within the country, from travel to finance, healthcare to voting.
In Parliament, the Conservatives have been asking pertinent questions about privacy and data management. MP Leslyn Lewis voiced her skepticism about the government’s new initiative to apply for employment insurance and old age security, “Every promise of transparency can become a tool of surveillance if not guided by the principles of freedom that we cherish. If everything of value becomes data, every aspect of our lives can become data to be recorded and monetized. That is why we must be on guard.” Again, it was Blacklock’s Reporter that reported Lewis’s sage warning, “Digital infrastructure is not neutral.” In a parliamentary statement, Lewis told MPs, “We must never allow people to be reduced to mere consumers at the end of a bar code. Human beings are not data points to be managed. We are souls with a purpose. The future we build must reflect that truth.”
Niagara West MP Dean Allison urges Canadians to begin asking the questions of the Carney Liberals: “With digital IDs like many other policies, the challenge with the Carney government is one of transparency. Canadians do not receive information that is timely, nor are they told accurate information on what the government is doing. The prime minister is close with the U.K. and E.U. governments. Given the company he keeps, is Carney about to follow Britain’s or Europe’s sweeping use of digital IDs? The Liberals are testing digital IDs to deliver EI and OAS. But Canada’s digital ID program must be voluntary, not like Britain’s mandatory digital ID in order to work and receive government services.”
And the last word goes to Allison, “There are too many unanswered questions about Canada’s digital ID program and the prime minister and the Liberals do not seem to want to share with Canadians what is in store for us.”
Chris George is an advocate, government relations advisor, and writer/copy editor. As president of a public relations firm established in 1994, Chris provides discreet counsel, tactical advice and management skills to CEOs/Presidents, Boards of Directors and senior executive teams in executing public and government relations campaigns and managing issues. Prior to this PR/GR career, Chris spent seven years on Parliament Hill on staffs of Cabinet Ministers and MPs. He has served in senior campaign positions for electoral and advocacy campaigns at every level of government. Today, Chris resides in Almonte, Ontario where he and his wife manage www.cgacommunications.com. Contact Chris at chrisg.george@gmail.com.
