Federal Internet Censorship Bill Is Direct Attack On Freedom Of Expression

OpinionSpencerFernando

The federal government continues to find ‘inspiration’ in authoritarian communist-style moves.

State-mandated censorship of the internet is something you would expect in China or another communist authoritarian state.

By contrast, countries in the Western World like Canada are supposed to be about free speech and free expression.

The free flow of ideas leads to creativity, government accountability, wealth creation, and innovation.

To try and stifle that freedom, to impose government censorship of the internet, is to launch a direct assault on freedom of expression and go against the values of this country.

So of course, that’s what the federal Liberal government is doing.

They are bringing in an internet censorship bill, justifying it as statists always do, as being about our ‘safety,’ as reported by Blacklock’s:

“An internet censorship bill to promote “content moderation” will be introduced within two weeks, says Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault. “My job is to ensure the safety and security of the Canadian population,” said Guilbeault. “That’s what I am here for.”

The legislation will mandate state-run ‘content moderation,’ with content the government opposes having to be taken down within 24 hours:

“Once a publication is flagged it will have to be taken down within 24 hours.” Internet #censorship bill to promote “content moderation” introduced within 2-weeks, says @CdnHeritage Minister @s_guilbeault. https://blacklocks.ca/my-job-is-to-ensure-safety/ #hatespeech #FreeSpeech #cdnpoli”

Notably, the government is moving beyond ‘hate speech,’ itself a term fraught with open-ended interpretation to be manipulated by government, but will also target so-called ‘online harms’:

Here’s an excerpt from a Post Millennial article on the topic:

Guilbeault revealed that the legislation being tabled is the first step in creating a “safer environment for all people online and not just for a handful,” regulating hurtful content beyond what is already covered by the Criminal Code, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.

“With the legislation we will be tabling, it won’t matter whether or not the company is Canadian,” said Guilbeault. “It won’t matter where the company is registered or where their servers are located.”

“Once a publication is flagged it will have to be taken down within 24 hours of having it being flagged,” he said. “There are not a lot of countries that are doing that right now.”

“I think it’s going to be a really good remedy to a number of problems but it won’t solve everything,” said Guilbeault. “One of the issues I’ve learned, looking at different models, is you shouldn’t try to tackle everything from the get-go.”

Guilbeault said that hate speech will “definitely” be a part of the legislation being tabled, as well as other “online harms.”

Further, Guilbeault is using language similar to that used in China, where they claim internet censorship is about maintaining ‘social cohesion,’ (AKA support for the state):

Guilbeault also said that the bill will aid in maintaining the “social fabric of our society.”

An assault on freedom of expression

There is no denying that this is an assault on freedom of expression.

The way Guilbeault is framing this, it seems deliberately meant to be vague and open ended, and thus subject to abuse.

And that is clearly the point for Guilbeault and the Liberal government.

This past year has witnessed repeated misinformation being pushed by politicians and ‘experts,’ who have been called out for their huge errors and their willingness – and often eagerness – to restrict our rights.

Rather than seek to actually respond to criticism from the public, many politicians have instead tried to play the victim, complain about the criticism, and now seek to silence it.

Make no mistake, the Liberals will certainly use this to restrict the ‘acceptable’ bounds of debate and disagreement, in an effort to stop people from criticizing public officials and narrow the political spectrum.

For example, how long until any criticism of increased immigration levels is branded has ‘hate’ and ‘racism’ and thus shut down?

Despite the majority of Canadians holding such a position, it may not be long before the government tries to silence it, and much more.

Buy off the media, silence the rest

The Trudeau Liberals are clearly playing the long-game here, and we are seeing their plan come together.

First, they massively boosted CBC funding – making the state-run broadcaster more powerful.

Second, they gave bailouts to much of the establishment media, deepening their dependence on the federal government.

And now third, they will bring in legislation that can be used to restrict discussion and to pressure outlets like SpencerFernando.com and other independent media who don’t take government money.

The end game is for the media to be dominated by state-run outlets, and ‘private’ outlets that just so happen to be fully dependent on the state.

That may be a lot of things, but it’s not even close to a free press.

Who will oppose this?

Of course, I will be speaking out against this, as will independent media and all Canadians who value free expression.

What remains to be seen however is whether the Conservatives do so.

Previously, it would have seemed to be a no-brainer that they would stand against this, but as we are seeing the party under O’Toole is attempting to mirror the Liberals as much as possible, and is scared to upset the establishment press, leading to the possibility they will go along with this attack on free expression in Canada.

Regardless of what they do, we saw in Ontario the massive grassroots backlash against Doug Ford’s police state policies, which forced the Ontario PCs to back down within a day.

That’s the kind of spirit we must gather in opposition to the Liberals attempting to impose total government restrictions over the internet, and must make the case to everyone we possibly can that what the Liberals are doing is dangerous and must be fought against.

Without freedom of expression, without people being able to share their views and thoughts free from statist intervention, Canada will become less and less free, and become more and more like the Communist States we are supposed to be rejecting.

We must not be weak and allow that to happen, we must be strong and push back as powerfully as we possibly can.

Spencer Fernando

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