When a government believes it should decide what content you are supposed to consume, that government is treating you as nothing more than a cog in their ideological machine.
Bill C-11 is a step closer to becoming law.
The legislation recently passed second reading in the Senate, with 49 votes in favour and 19 against:
Vote result on second reading of Bill #C11:
Yeas: 49 ✔️
Nays : 19 ❌
Abstentions : 0#SenCA #CdnPoli— Senate of Canada (@SenateCA) October 25, 2022
Most of the so-called ‘Independent’ Senators voted in favour of it, making it obvious that whatever they call themselves they are basically Trudeau stooges.
The Senate passed C-11 despite intense warnings from Canadians across the political spectrum, including many Canadian YouTubers, who said it would be devastating for their prospects.
The legislation will massively expand the power of the CRTC, putting a centralized government agency in charge of what is deemed ‘Canadian content.’ The CRTC will have the power to pressure social media platforms to manipulate their algorithms – serving ‘CanCon’ to people who don’t want it – which will actually damage the ability of Canadian content producers to reach those who do want to see their content. And, given that the CRTC serves the whims of the government, and is dominated by those who think they should be the gatekeepers of what Canadians consume, is there any doubt that they will use their massively expanded power to play favourites and reduce the reach of those who oppose the government of the day?
Further, if the bill is as innocuous as the Liberals claim, why did they try to intimidate witnesses who were going to speak against it?
Remember, when a government demands a massive expansion of power, they are never doing it for a small and innocent reason. The initial ‘ask’ is merely what they think they can sell. The true purpose of their expanded power will come later on, when they feel people aren’t paying attention.
As if that’s not enough, the Liberals are also pushing ahead with Bill C-18, dubbed the Online News Act.
As noted by Michael Geist, C-18 is similar to C-11 in that the government is benefitting legacy outlets while ignoring the concerns of everyone else:
“If all of this sounds familiar, it is because it is straight out of the Bill C-11 playbook. For months, digital first creators have warned that Bill C-11 could cause enormous harm to their careers and livelihood. In response, legacy creators shrugged their shoulders and Rodriguez denied that the bill will affect digital creators, a position debunked by the CRTC chair and experts from across the country. Much the same dynamic is now playing out with Bill C-18. Over a hundred digital news outlets raised concerns months ago, yet Rodriguez says that the department has not even studied the implications of alternatives. As for the big payouts for Bell, Rogers and the CBC and the exclusion of small media outlets, he suggests that the small outlets aren’t much interested in the bill.”
What the Liberals are doing here is fighting a desperate, authoritarian rear-guard action against the democratization of news coverage, opinion sharing, and entertainment.
The Liberals lack confidence that Canadians will keep them in power if there is a free and open exchange of ideas, so they are trying to tilt the playing field against independent outlets and towards the big institutions that are more likely to do the bidding of the centralized state.
Also playing a role here is how the fact that the Liberals are led by someone – Justin Trudeau – who admires China’s Communist ‘Basic Dictatorship,’ and thus want to silence dissenting voices and put the government in total control of the media.
The Trudeau Liberals aren’t treating Canadians like individuals, and aren’t respecting our right to consume the content we choose. Instead, they are treating Canadians as cogs in their ideological machine, seeking to ensure we consume only the content the government wants us to see.
Why the Liberals will fail in the long-run
In the short-term, the Liberals are managing to impose their censorship agenda.
This means we will have to fight much harder, and more strategically, to ensure the Liberals are defeated and their censorship policies reversed.
In the long-run however, the Liberal agenda will fail, because it is up against forces that are unstoppable.
Just as those who tried to fight the revolutionary power of the printing press obviously failed, those who try to prop up the establishment media and try to silence independent voices will fail.
It is up to us then to ensure that the impending failure of the Liberal censorship agenda happens as rapidly as possible.
Spencer Fernando
Photo – YouTube
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