Free speech and freedom of the press are foundational to a free society. But the Liberal government’s push to regulate online media content has raised several red flags that, critics say, could jeopardize these fundamental principles. In November of 2020, Heritage Minister Stephen Guilbeault proposed an amendment (Bill C-10)to the historic Broadcasting Act that regulates Canadian TV and radio. This Act has a long history in Canadian Parliament (its first form was given royal assent in 1936), and has been modified many times since its beginning, but no changes have ever been as worrisome as the ones being proposed today.
What Bill C-10 is said to do, is simply update the Act to fit today’s modern digital world. Instead of just regulating Canadian TV and radio (giving broadcasting organization’s quotas for Canadian content and providing financial help to the CBC), the bill’s proponents wish to extend the same regulations to online content. In theory, C-10 was supposed to only apply to major companies like Disney and Netflix, but when the Liberal government removed a clause that was especially meant to protect individual social media users, the alarm bells started ringing.
What Critics Are Saying
Michael Geist, an Ottawa law professor and Canada Research Chair of internet law, has been among the most vocal critics of Bill C-10. He provides daily commentary on Twitter of the Bill’s progression but believes that it has been inherently flawed from the beginning. Contradictions, incoherence, and the potential for retaliatory tariffs, are some of the concerns Geist raises. But the most alarming issue with C-10 is it’s inevitable infringement on free speech. Speaking of the policies the Bill is said to enact, Geist says, “scratch below the surface and the real commonality – as well as the bigger threat – is the implications for free speech in Canada.” The reason for Geist’s concerns are twofold, first the Liberals removed the clause that specifically protected “user generated content,” or content created by individual users on social media platforms, as well as venues like YouTube and TikTok, and voted to give the CRTC unprecedented regulatory powers that don’t seem to display any real boundaries for free speech.
Peter Menzies, who is a former member of the CRTC itself agrees with Geist. He believes that what the Liberal government proposes to do will undermine the foundation of our political freedoms in Canada, “(Bill C-10) doesn’t just infringe on free expression, it constitutes a full-blown assault upon it and, through it, the foundations of democracy.” With the likes of Geist and Menzies, experts on internet law in Canada with firsthand experience, blowing the whistle on what Guilbeault and others are trying to do, it should cause great concern to average Canadians whose right to free speech may be in jeopardy.
The Response
If the bill wasn’t hazy enough to begin with, and didn’t contain so much fuel for contempt, the way that Liberal ministers defended it has only made matters worse. One such scary instance was when CBC’s David Commons pressed Guilbeault regarding the clause that was meant to protect Canadian charter rights, “your original iteration took the step to put this exclusion in there … I don’t understand why it was valuable enough to put it in there before but not valuable enough to put it in now.” Watching Guilbeault respond was an exercise in cognitive dissonance. He deflected the question seven times and instead brought up Liberal talking points while accusing critics of stoking fear.
Justin Trudeau likewise has failed to dispel concerns about Bill C-10, and instead, with characteristic arrogance, labelled those with worries as “tin foil hat” wearers during a Parliamentary question period. If he has the audacity to call Law experts and former members of the Commission conspiracy theorists, imagine his opinion on everyday Canadians who are concerned.
What’s Next
Controversy surrounding the bill is ongoing, and while critics like Geist and others are daily calling for a halt, Guilbeault does not appear to be slowing down. Instead, both he and Trudeau are only ramping up the rhetoric they believe is necessary to push this through. Should we be concerned that our freedoms are at risk? The answer is a clear yes. The removal of individual protection and unwarranted (and undefined) powers it would give the Commission are evidence enough. What will become of the Bill is yet to be seen, but should we see it given royal assent, Canadians may find themselves having to conform to the Liberal understanding of Canadian culture, or else face being blocked from social media and having their content scrubbed offline. Another step towards the dystopian world globalists are envisioning.