If the Liberals truly believed they were governing effectively, why would they seek to expand state power over the internet and attempt to narrow the bounds of debate?
One of the ironies in our world is that the more a leader attempts to surpress their opponents in order to seem ‘strong,’ the more their weakness is revealed.
For example, if Vladimir Putin really thought that people in Russia supported his actions, why would even the smallest whiff of protest lead to arrests?
Why are opposition newspapers in Russia being shut down?
Why has a climate of fear descended upon the country that dissuades people from speaking out?
Another example is China.
If Xi Jinping was actually sure that the Chinese Communist Party was popular, why aren’t people allowed to criticize the state?
Why can’t he be criticized online by people in China?
Why can’t other parties run in free and competitive elections?
Why are so many critics arrested?
Why is so much effort spent on internal policing and propaganda?
Why is there a constant game of ‘whack-a-mole’ being played where the government censors every new phrase that could be seen as criticism of the CCP?
The fact is, for all the flaws of relatively free and democratic nations like Canada, the UK, the US, Japan, India, and many others, there is an underlying confidence that the core values of individual freedom and democracy are strong enough to endure open debate and open criticism.
Adhering to those values is what enables countries like Canada to continue being places where people can innovate, create, and enjoy the benefits of freedom.
For that reason, we should all be alarmed when we see a government that seeks to abandon those values.
And that’s what the Liberal government is doing with their efforts to expand state control over the internet.
A serious warning
In a recent article, Michael Geist noted the intense criticism that Twitter lobbed at the government over the idea of ‘proactive monitoring of content’:
“The most notable submission came from Twitter (its must read submission is here), which warned that the proactive monitoring of content envisioned by the government:
“sacrifices freedom of expression to the creation of a government run system of surveillance of anyone who uses Twitter. Even the most basic procedural fairness requirements you might expect from a government-run system such as notice or warning are absent from this proposal. The requirement to ‘share’ information at the request of Crown is also deeply troubling.”
Further, it didn’t pull any punches with respect to the government’s website blocking plans, literally likening it to China, North Korea and Iran:
The proposal by the government of Canada to allow the Digital Safety Commissioner to block websites is drastic. People around the world have been blocked from accessing Twitter and other services in a similar manner as the one proposed by Canada by multiple authoritarian governments (China, North Korea, and Iran for example) under the false guise of ‘online safety’ impeding peoples’ rights to access information online.”
When a government in a country like Canada is being compared to China, North Korea, and Iran, we should all be concerned.
And this is just the latest in the long-trend line followed by the Liberal government, where they seek to expand government control over the internet and narrow the bounds of debate.
The Trudeau government is moving Canada away from our core values and is pushing us towards the kind of information-control systems we see in authoritarian states.
Canada should be the opposite of countries like Russia and China
As the world watches Russia’s horrendous war against Ukraine, and as we see China become more and more of a dystopian totalitarian state, shouldn’t Canada be doing everything possible to go in the opposite direction?
Shouldn’t we be renewing our faith in free speech and individual freedom, rather than giving the government more power?
For a government that calls itself ‘progressive,’ the reality is the Liberal assault on free expression is deeply ‘regressive.’
Why does the Trudeau government lack confidence?
This brings us back to the point outlined at the beginning.
Confident leaders and confident governments don’t try to put the state in control of the internet.
They don’t try to narrow the bounds of discussion and debate.
And they don’t use government power to try and make things tougher for their opponents.
The more the Trudeau Liberals try to use state authority to control the flow of information and criticism, the more they demonstrate their lack of confidence in themselves or their agenda.
And if they don’t have confidence in what they’re doing, why should anyone else?
Spencer Fernando
Photo – YouTube
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