MPs Rush Bill C-11 With Hundreds of Amendments to Streaming Bill in a Day but Senate Not in a Rush
Bill C-11 updates the Broadcasting Act to require streaming platforms to follow Cancon rules. Shrouded in secrecy by force, dozens of amendments to #BillC11 were defeated or passed without reading them into the public record.
MPs have rushed through over 100 amendments to the online streaming bill to meet a deadline imposed by the government, prompting accusations of secrecy and legislative bungling.
Liberal gatekeepers and censors want to control what you see and say online.
I won't let them.
As Prime Minister, I will introduce a Free Speech Act to defend your charter right to freedom of expression on the Internet. pic.twitter.com/10SPOVzzum
— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) June 15, 2022
There were heated exchanges between MPs at the heritage committee on Tuesday night as they voted on dozens of amendments to the bill, which would update the Broadcasting Act to include streaming platforms.
MPs on the committee, who sat until after midnight voting on amendments, say they were only made aware of their contents on Tuesday morning.
The heritage committee was given until Tuesday night to debate amendments to the bill after the government imposed a time-allocation motion to push it through the Commons committee stage.
Many of the amendments, including those proposed by the government, were voted on without debate, meaning that their contents were not described to members of the public watching the committee.
Conservatives Criticizes the Government for Shutting Down Debate on Bill C-11#StopCensorship pic.twitter.com/hjs68orv6f
— Canadian Riley (@TiaRileyCanada) June 17, 2022
But senators have signaled they will not be pressured to speed up consideration of the bill, claiming they have thwarted government ploys to push it through the upper house.
The online streaming bill, which the government rushed through the Commons heritage committee on Tuesday, is now subject to a pre-study by the Senate committee on transport and communications.
The Senate committee’s chair, Conservative Sen. Leo Housakos, accused the government of planning to “ram this legislation through without proper parliamentary scrutiny.”
Many feel that the real intent is to crack down on opinions Ottawa considers misinformation. Expressions of opinions that aren’t supported by facts could soon be ordered removed from social media in Canada if the chief architects of the nation’s nascent Online Harms legislation have their way.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association worried that the government’s plans would turn online platforms such as Facebook and Twitter into “agents of law enforcement, creating mandatory reporting and preservation obligations that may expand over time and significantly impact the privacy rights of Canadians.” The inclusion of CSIS in the process was, it noted, “of particular concern.”