Conservative attempt to reintroduce C-10 social media exclusion fails

The federal government’s Canadian Heritage Committee is holding firm on plans to subject social media to broadcasting regulations after it voted down a proposed amendment from the Conservative Party that would have compensated for social media’s exemption from Bill C-10. During Monday’s meeting, Conservative MP Alain Rayes brought forward an amendment to the bill that, if passed, would have specified that the revised Broadcasting Act “does not apply in respect of programs that are uploaded to an online undertaking that provides a social media service, by a user of the service... for transmission or retransmission over the internet and reception by other users of the service.” It would have also excluded online undertakings, whose broadcasting consists only of those noted programs. “Some are trying to pit the cultural industry against those who defend freedom of expression and net neutrality -- but this is not the case in the Conservative Party,” Rayes said, according to simultaneous translation. “We believe we can work together. We think that the government must support the culture sector, that much is clear... But now the government is attacking users of social media and I think that that was a mistake.” Clause-by-clause amendments resumed on the bill May 19, after the committee underwent a two-week delay while it sought out a new charter statement as well as testimony from an expert panel and the ministers of Justice and Heritage to gain clarity on the freedom of speech implications of including social media platforms in the bill. During its May 19 meeting, the committee voted to restrict the CRTC’s regulatory powers over social media platforms to financial contributions and discoverability of Canadian creators, in order to ease freedom of speech concerns. “I think the only reason why there continue to be worries out there about freedom of expression is because people are being told that there are risks to their freedom of speech, freedom of expression,” Bloc Quebecois MP Martin Champoux said in response to Rayes’ proposed amendment at Monday’s meeting. Debate on the topic took up the whole two-hour meeting before the 11 member group got the chance to go to a vote, with the Conservative Party members taking up most of the talking time. Conservative MP Scott Aitchison said at this point, he does not believe the bill will have sufficient time to pass by the end of the current Parliament session in less than a month. “I must say it’s a disaster, this bill, now. We need to step back,” he said. “Let's face it, tomorrow is June 1, it may pass the House of Commons but it’s not going to pass the Senate. There's no time in three and a half weeks.”

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Conservative attempt to reintroduce C-10 social media exclusion fails

Brief | May 31, 2021

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