The nature of the Internet is such that Web servers automatically collect certain information about a visit to a website, including the visitor’s Internet Protocol (IP) address. IP addresses are unique numbers assigned by Internet Service Providers (ISP) to all devices used to access the Internet. Web servers automatically log the IP addresses of visitors to their sites. The IP address, on its own, does not identify an individual. However, in certain circumstances, such as with the co-operation of an ISP for example, it could be used to identify an individual using the site. For this reason, the Government of Canada considers the IP address to be personal information, particularly when combined with other data automatically collected when visitor requests a Web page such as the page or pages visited and date and time of the visit.

Unless otherwise noted, the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada’s website does not gather any specific personal information from you, such as your name, telephone number or email address. This information is obtained only if you supply it to us, for example, by email or by filling in a contact form.

If you choose to send an email or complete a feedback form online, your personal information is used by the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada’s website employees in order to respond to your inquiry. The information you provide will be shared with a government institution if your inquiry relates to that institution. We do not disclose the information without your consent to anyone other than to those in the federal government who need to provide you with a response unless doing so is permitted or required by law.

Emails and other electronic methods used to communicate with the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada’s website are not secure unless it is specifically stated on a Web page. Therefore, it is recommended that you do not send personal information, such as your Social Insurance Number, home address, telephone numbers, and photographs of identifiable individuals through non-secure electronic means.

We employ software programs to monitor network traffic and identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. When you visit the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada’s website, these software programs automatically receive and temporarily store in our Web server logs information that is supplied by your browser (e.g., Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari, Mozilla Firefox, etc.). Information automatically collected by our server when you browse this website includes the following:

• Network location and the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the computer you are using to contact this website;
• Name of the domain you are using to access the Internet (e.g., ".com," ".org," ".net," and ".ca");
• Type of browser you are using;
• Type of operating system you are using (e.g., Windows and Mac OS);
• Date and time you accessed the site;
• Pages you have accessed and the documents you have downloaded; and
• Internet address of the website from which you linked directly to this site, if applicable.

In most circumstances, this is anonymous statistical data, and we make no attempt to link this data or the IP addresses of the computers that have contacted our website with the identity of individuals visiting our site unless an attempt to damage the site has been detected, a threat is expressed in a message collected by the site, or as otherwise required by law.

In cases where services are provided by organizations other than the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada’s website, such as social media platforms or mobile applications, IP addresses may be recorded by the web server of the third-party service provider. (See Social Media)

A digital marker is a computer file created by a visitor’s Web browser, in order to remember certain pieces of information for a web server to reference during the same or subsequent visits to the website. Examples of digital markers are “cookies” or HTML 5 web storage.

We use “session and persistent” digital markers on some portions of the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada’s website to store information within a session. During your visit to this site, your browser exchanges information with our Web server. Session and persistent digital markers facilitate this exchange by reminding the server which computer is making the request. The digital markers used do not allow the employees’ of the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada’s website to identify individuals.

You may adjust your browser settings to reject digital markers, including cookies, if you so choose.  However, this may affect your user experience on the website. (See Disabling Digital Markers).

Web analytics is the collection, analysis, measurement, and reporting of data about Web traffic and visits for purposes of understanding and optimizing Web usage. Information in digital markers may be used for the purpose of web analytics to remember your online interactions with the Deputy Prime Minister’s website.

We use Google Analytics, a Web analytics service provided by Google Inc. to help measure traffic patterns to, from, and within our website. This analytics measurement tool uses "session" and "persistent" cookies to collect standard Internet log information and to track visitor behaviour information in an anonymous form. Persistent cookies are stored on your computer and expire two years after your last visit to the website. The information generated by the cookies about your visit to our website (including your truncated IP address) is transmitted to Google. No personal identifying information is recorded or provided to Google. This anonymous information is then used to evaluate visitors’ use of the website and to compile statistical reports on website activity. The aggregate data and statistical reports are only used to help us make our site more useful to visitors and are only made available to Web managers and other designated staff who require this information to perform their duties.

For further information, consult Google Analytics and its privacy policy.

If you wish, you may opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics by disabling or refusing the digital markers, by disabling JavaScript within your browser or by using the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-On. Disabling Google Analytics or JavaScript will still permit you to access comparable information or services from our websites. However, if you change the settings on your browser so that digital markers will be denied or so that you will be warned before a digital marker is saved on your computer, navigating on the websites may be a much slower process. It may also have an impact on your user experience of the website. To disable digital markers, please refer to your vendor’s browser instruction guide.

The Deputy Prime Minister’s social media accounts are public and are not hosted on Government of Canada servers. Users who choose to interact with us via social media should read the terms of service and privacy policies of these third-party service providers and those of any applications you use to access them, including Twitter and YouTube.

Personal information that you provide via social media may be collected to capture conversations (e.g. comments, “likes”, retweets) between you and the social accounts associated with the Deputy Prime Minister’s website. It may be used to respond to inquiries, or for statistical, evaluation and reporting purposes. Comments posted that violate Canadian law will be deleted and disclosed to law enforcement authorities. In addition, if any comments posted are deemed inappropriate or offensive, we reserve the right to edit or delete them.