By Western Standard

October 27, 2021

-Western Standard

 

The Liberals are moving swiftly to bring back a controversial Internet censorship bill, says Blacklock’s Reporter.

“We promised to bring in some bills very quickly,” said new Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez on Tuesday.

“C-10 is one of them. Why? Because it is fundamental.”

Bill C-10 proposed that YouTube videos intended for private viewing be regulated as public broadcasts by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission.

CRTC compliance orders carry $15 million fines.

The bill lapsed in the Senate communications committee August 15, though Rodriguez had called its passage “an absolute priority” for cabinet.

“We made many promises to table important bills in the first 100 days and that includes the broadcasting bill,” said Rodriguez.

“We need that bill. We have to modernize it.”

Cabinet defended the bill as an attempt to have social media platforms contribute to arts funding while critics opposed it as a bid to censor user-uploaded content.

Rodriguez’s department in a June 23 briefing note acknowledged Bill C-10 “caused adverse reactions from the Conservative Party, some online social media platforms as well as some experts and individuals being worried this would impede on freedom of expression.

“Some senators have expressed concern. The Senate may also suggest amendments to the bill.”

Conservative and Liberal appointees in the Senate opposed the measure.

Sen. David Richards (N.B.), a novelist, on June 29 said the bill “needs a stake through the heart” as an attempt to “subject freedom of expression to the doldrums of government oversight.”

Broadcast Hall of Famer Sen. Pamela Wallin (Sask.), on May 6 described the bill as “anti-democratic,” while Sen. Michael MacDonald (N.S.) on June 30 predicted the bill would send Parliament “down a rabbit hole on Internet regulation.

“I have a lot of problems with a handful of elites deciding what you can see and what you can read,” said MacDonald, the chair of the Senate communications committee.

“We already have laws on objectionable content. I find this bill Orwellian.”