Bill C-11 is nearly identical to Bill C-10 and has all the same problems that Bill C-10 did!

BY MICHAEL THOMAS

If I had a truthful way to describe Bill C-11 in comparison to Bill C-10 I would say like my mother used to say, “Six of one and half a dozen of the other.”

When Justin Trudeau and his Liberals had to shelf Bill C-10 because of the recent election he called, some people thought that this would be the end of this group’s attempt to muzzle unfavourable media, but boy were they wrong. Brace yourself Canadians, here comes the twin brother of Bill C-10; it’s called Bill C-11.

Just the fact that this government is still relentlessly pursuing this agenda should be reason enough for Canadians who love and cherish their freedom to say no to Bill C11 as soon as possible.

Here is a look at this bill and why it is so troubling.

Trudeau’s Liberal government says this new bill to regulate online streaming services, fixes the problems of the much-criticized Bill C-10, by removing from regulation most user-generated content disseminated by social media platforms.

This is what Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez would like to have Canadians believe however, a closer look reveals that nothing significant has changed.

“We listened, especially to the concerns around social media and we fixed it,” was what he said in a news conference on February 2^nd, 2022, in the House of Commons.

“When it comes to social media, we made it very clear in the [proposed] Online Streaming Act that this does not apply to what individual Canadians and creators post online,” Rodriguez said. “No users, no online creators will be regulated. No digital-first creators, no influencers, no cat videos — only the companies themselves will have new responsibilities.”

Maybe his definition of fixing things is not changing its meaning but the wording, because a Canadian Internet and E-Commerce Law specialist sees numerous faults with this bill.

“The government insists that regulating user-generated content is off the table, but unfortunately, that simply isn’t the case,” Michael Geist said, “The new bill restores one exception, but adds a new one, leaving the door open for CRTC regulation.”

It seems that this bill is way more “hat than cattle” when it comes to protecting the rights of Canadians, and here is why.

“Almost everything from podcasts to TikTok videos fit neatly into the new exception that gives the CRTC the power to regulate such content as a ‘program,” Geist said. “I think that some of the concerns with C-10 are addressed, but many remain.”

To put this in layman’s terms, this so-called new bill still leaves the potential of treating internet content as programs subject to regulation in place, sees the globe as subject to Canadian broadcast jurisdiction, multiplies the power of the regulator, and does very little to address many of the previously unanswered concerns raised by Canadians.

When the previous C-10 made its way through the legislative process, new rules were added to limit the powers of CRTC orders and regulations over online undertakings and user-generated content (Sections 9(3.1) and 10(4)) however, now those limits have been removed from Bill C-11, which will now allow the Trudeau’s government to overreach with its regulatory arm of censorship into the online lives of Canadians.

Trudeau had the votes to pass Bill C-10 in round one. We need to fight to ensure he doesn’t have the votes this time. This petition is not only expressing our opposition to Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez’s stand, but it is expressing our opposition to all the Federal Party Leaders. They all need to know that Canadians stand against internet censorship and dictatorship.

In the words of the late Bob Marley, Canadians let’s “Get up, stand up, and stand up for our rights.”