The North Okanagan-Shuswap Member of Parliament says a controversial bill aimed at regulating online video and streaming services is an “absolute assault on the freedom of expression.”
“Justin Trudeau and his government now want the power to regulate what you or anyone else posts online,” Conservative MP Mel Arnold said of Bill C-10.
Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault told the House of Commons in March the aim of the bill is to regulate online video and streaming services in a similar fashion as conventional broadcasters, but homegrown content carried online won’t be regulated under the legislation.
In its original presentation, social media users were exempt from the Act, but that was removed in amendments on April 23.
“The Liberals at committee have amended C-10 to potentially allow the government to order the deletion of user-generated content on social media,” Arnold said.
But Guilbeault has since said the bill will return and a new amendment would clarify that social media posts by regular Canadian users would not be regulated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).
Arnold is calling on his constituents to contact Liberal MPs at their offices to order a full stop of the potential censorship Bill C-10 would bring if passed.
A petition backed by Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre calls on the government to withdraw the “censorship bill and respect free speech.”
– with Canadian Press files
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