Privacy issues quash digital wallets

Insiders say PCs cooling on plan for cardless IDs

- ROBERT BENZIE

In October 2020, then-treasury board president Peter Bethlenfalvy announced plans to have government-issued identification added to Apple Wallets or Google Wallets. The plans are on hold.

A promise by Premier Doug Ford’s government to include Ontario driver’s licences and health cards on smartphone digital wallets is on hold indefinitely due to political and privacy concerns, the Star has learned.

“It’s now on the back burner,” said an insider, speaking confidentially in order to discuss internal Progressive Conservative machinations.

“Our base hates the idea so it’s a tough sell,” said the official, noting Ford himself had backed the digital push because he saw it as a consumer-friendly measure that would make life more convenient for Ontarians.

But some Tory supporters are deeply skeptical about having government-issued identification added to Apple Wallets or Google Wallets — even though the province’s COVID-19 vaccination cards were digitized in 2021.

“They’re worried about being tracked (by the government), so privacy was an issue,” said a second PC source.

Officially, the Tories are tightlipped about a scheme that was a priority when then-treasury board president Peter Bethlenfalvy announced it in October 2020.