If it was really about holding big platforms accountable, why did the Liberals vote against thresholds that would have done exactly that?
While much of what happens in Parliament is just pointless theatre, there are aspects that are quite important.
One of those important aspects is proposing changes to legislation that force parties/MPs to go on the record about what they are actually supporting – rather than what they claim to be supporting.
In effect, you can call someone’s bluff.
That’s what the Conservatives have effectively done with Bill C-11.
The legislation will dramatically expand state power and has been denounced by people and organizations across the political spectrum.
It’s a direct assault on Canadian content producers and freedom of speech.
The Liberals – and the statist NDP & Bloc – have claimed the legislation is all about holding “big content-producers” accountable.
Well, if C-11 was truly about focusing on the big companies only, it would be easy to clarify that.
The Conservative attempted to do exactly that.
They proposed a threshold of $150 million in annual revenue, under which the legislation would not apply.
What happened?
The Liberals, NDP, and Bloc voted against it:
“Conservatives proposed a threshold in Bill C-11 of $150M annual revenue so it would apply to large players like Netflix but not smaller streamers or services. Defeated by Liberal, Bloc and NDP MPs.”
After that was rejected, the Conservatives also proposed the threshold be set at $100M -defeated, $50M -defeated, $25M -defeated.
— Sarah Fischer (@SarahFischer__) June 14, 2022
Then, the Conservatives proposed a series of lower thresholds:
“After that was rejected, the Conservatives also proposed the threshold be set at $100M -defeated, $50M -defeated, $25M -defeated.”
After that was rejected, the Conservatives also proposed the threshold be set at $100M -defeated, $50M -defeated, $25M -defeated.
— Sarah Fischer (@SarahFischer__) June 14, 2022
By calling the Liberals’ bluff, the Conservatives have made it clear that the Trudeau government is pushing C-11 to try and control what Canadians can consume online.
There is now zero doubt that C-11 is all about Trudeau’s obsession with authoritarian government power.
Why would the Bloc & NDP support this?
The question to ask then is why would NDP & Bloc be supporting this?
For the Bloc, it’s not a big surprise.
The idea of free market competition in the cultural sector is unpopular among much of the Quebec political class, and Trudeau sells C-11 in Quebec as being about protecting Quebec cultural producers from the “big American platforms.”
For the NDP, it’s simply about the fact that Jagmeet Singh has completely sold out to the Liberals.
The NDP have been reduced to an extension of Justin Trudeau’s will, lamely criticizing him from time to time while keeping him in power until 2025 and enable his ongoing damage to the country.
This combination of Trudeau’s authoritarianism, Quebec politics, and Jagmeet Singh selling the soul of the NDP to Trudeau has put Bill C-11 on the path to being passed, in what will be deeply dangerous and disastrous to the future of free expression and creativity in this nation.
Spencer Fernando
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The Trudeau Liberals are dividing our country and wrecking our economy, while much of the media gives them a free pass. Canada needs independent voices to push back. If you support my independent voice, you can make a contribution through PayPal, or directly through Stripe below.
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