Bill C-10 Is An Extremist Piece Of Legislation

InsightSpencerFernando

If Guilbeault and Trudeau were confident they could sell the legislation to Canadians, they would be touting its merits. Instead, they’re desperately trying to deflect and demonize anyone who opposes it.

Conservatives have allowed the left to gain a monopoly on the term ‘extremism.’

It is rarely applied to those on the left, and is instead used almost exclusively for individuals farther to the right on the political spectrum.

How far right?

Well, that depends on who is making the accusation.

As of late, anyone to the right of communists can be tagged with the label.

This has worked out well for the left, enabling them to hide their own extremism through ever-more aggressive denunciations of the ‘extremism’ of others.

As reported by True North, here’s what heritage minister Steven Guilbeault said about opponents of Bill C-10:

“During yesterday’s question period, Liberal Minister @s_guilbeault implied that only “extremist elements” within the Conservative Party are concerned about the Liberal’s incoming internet censorship legislation in response to a question by @RachaelHarderMP. #BillC10 #cdnpoli”

“Guilbeault accused the Conservatives of being too “afraid” to stand up to large technology companies, before going on to claim they are catering to extremism.

“What we are seeing now is that these are big, powerful and, in fact some of the wealthiest corporations on the planet; clearly, the member opposite and her party are just afraid to stand up to them. Again it seems that the members of the Conservative Party are listening to the most extremist element of their party, as they have on very important issues such as climate change or women’s right to choose,” Guilbeault said.”

Is the former CRTC Commissioner an ‘extremist?’

While Guilbeault is accusing opponents of C-10 of being ‘extremists,’ that raises the question of whether he would include the former head of the CRTC in that category?

As reported by the National Post, “Former CRTC commissioner Peter Menzies said in an interview that Bill C-10 “doesn’t just infringe on free expression, it constitutes a full-blown assault upon it and, through it, the foundations of democracy.””

Michael Geist – a Law Professor and the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-Commerce Law – has called the Liberal government “the most anti-internet government in Canadian history”:

“Today’s Liberal government is unrecognizable by comparison as it today stands the most anti-Internet government in Canadian history:

As it moves to create the Great Canadian Internet Firewall, net neutrality is out and mandated Internet blocking is in.

Freedom of expression and due process is out, quick takedowns without independent review and increased liability are in.

Innovation and new business models are out, CRTC regulation is in.

Privacy reform is out, Internet taxation is in.

Prioritizing consumer Internet access and affordability is out, reduced competition through mergers are in.

And perhaps most troublingly, consultation and transparency are out, secrecy is in.”

Is Michael Geist an extremist?

Most people would probably say ‘no.’

But Steven Guilbeault wants you to say ‘yes,’ since Guilbeault thinks any opponent of Bill C-10 can’t possibly be reasonable.

Bill C-10 is an extremist piece of legislation

Here’s the thing.

Steven Guilbeault is using the age-old tactic of accusing your opponent of doing what you’re doing.

If we can best define extremism as a dramatic shift away from the status quo in a political sense, then Bill C-10 is extremist legislation.

Those who oppose it are in fact advocating for the maintenance of the status quo, a relatively free internet landscape in Canada that is in keeping with our professed values and principles as a country that claims to support freedom of expression.

Guilbeault and Trudeau are trying to dramatically overturn the idea of free expression on the internet, substituting politicians and bureaucrats for your own decision making and judgement about the content you create and consume.

In a ‘free society,’ that is about as ‘extremist’ as legislation gets.

And Guilbeault knows it, hence the videos below, where he first fails miserably trying to defend it, and then goes off on a total tangent in Question Period:

“Steven Guilbeault struggles to justify #BillC10 in disaster interview”

“You will not believe what just happened during Question Period in the House of Commons.

@S_Guilbeault simply could not have been more crass and despicable trying to defend his indefensible censorship Bill C-10

cc @MGeist #cdnpoli”

https://twitter.com/surveilz/status/1389288937454280708

Does Steven Guilbeault seem like someone who is confident about what he’s presenting, or does he seem like someone who’s trying to pull a trick on all of us, and is increasingly angry that it’s not working?

As I’ve noted previously, the problem Guilbeault has isn’t that he can’t explain the real ideology behind the legislation, it’s that if he did so the backlash would be even stronger.

Bill C-10 is clearly about limiting the ‘acceptable’ range of opinion Canadians can express on the internet, and imposing centralized government control over areas that are currently free.

The Liberal government itself has said that platforms will need to ‘follow the governments vision,’ a statement that would sound at home in China, but sounds completely alien to a country where the government isn’t supposed to control our freedom of expression.

Extremism can’t be hidden forever

The fact that there has been such a strong backlash to Bill C-10, despite all the tricks, distractions, and demonization the Liberals have tried to pull just goes to show how extremist it really is.

It doesn’t pass the basic test of common-sense, and Guilbeault’s disastrous interview with the CBC (who are usually about the easiest interviewers of the Liberals) shows this.

Guilbeault and Trudeau are demonstrating a dangerous arrogance, an arrogance that pushes them to overturn Canada’s values, restrict your rights, and treat you like a subject to be controlled and ruled over rather than respected.

They want to take your rights, rather than defend them.

And of course, they can’t admit it, so they talk around in circles, pretend it’s about the ‘big-tech giants’ and desperately try to evade reality.

This is why the label of extremism must be untethered from the uneven usage we see now, where it’s applied only to the right, and should be used more broadly, to identify the communist-style drift of the left that seeks to take Canada in a very dangerous and extreme direction.

Spencer Fernando

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