[kenned3]

No, normally the government in Canada can be sued for this sort of thing.

not exactly the same thing, but this is a $500,000 class action lawsuit for losing a USB Key containing patient data:

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2012/05/28/durham_region_he...

The expectation is that the government protect your privacy or pay if they fail to do so.. as with any private data.

[chkaloon]

But the government is financed by taxpayers, so the taxpayers will end up being the payers of any fines the government is liable for. It's circular.

[liketochill]

Only if all taxpayers get an equal settlement. And even then perhaps that money would have been spent on another group: “sorry no fighter jets this year money went privacy lawsuits”. So some taxpayers could come out ahead in the event of privacy lawsuits.