Juno News - February 03, 2021


Trudeau wants to regulate the internet


Episode Stats

Length

3 minutes

Words per Minute

191.67365

Word Count

686

Sentence Count

32


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 While most Canadians have spent the past few months just trying to make it through the pandemic,
00:00:09.320 the Liberal government has spent some time toiling away on some pet projects,
00:00:13.680 including their plans to regulate the internet and social media.
00:00:18.940 Check out something called Bill C-10.
00:00:21.300 It's an alarming piece of legislation that touches upon a whole bunch of different things
00:00:25.620 related to the Broadcasting Act, the CRTC, and yes, the internet and social media when it comes to regulating content.
00:00:32.480 Now, some people have been quietly sounding the alarm on this.
00:00:34.760 There's a column in the Globe and Mail the other month saying this is serious state regulation of the internet,
00:00:39.820 but some of the things coming out of the mouths of Liberal politicians are getting just more and more alarming.
00:00:44.960 Heritage Minister Stephen Guilbault, the other day he was talking about this issue,
00:00:48.740 and he said, well, you know, we can't allow things out there being said online that undermine Canada's social cohesion.
00:00:54.700 And you're like, what?
00:00:56.600 Okay, I support having a strong social cohesion,
00:00:59.600 even though different folks are going to interpret what that phrase means in completely different ways,
00:01:04.020 but you want to censor people from saying things that undermine social cohesion?
00:01:09.520 What are some examples?
00:01:10.640 Well, one example he gave is people can't be out there criticizing Canada's public service,
00:01:16.180 that they work really hard and they're really good folks and they can't be undermined,
00:01:19.500 their efforts can't be undermined online.
00:01:21.820 What?
00:01:22.300 What?
00:01:23.280 I mean, okay, we can say, yeah, let's rally behind the public service and some people will agree
00:01:28.440 and others will say, no, no, I don't like that public service.
00:01:30.520 I want to say they're doing a bad job on my Twitter feed or my Facebook or what have you.
00:01:34.360 And Stephen Guilbault wants to bring in legislation that somehow makes that illegal
00:01:39.880 or in a way that you can censor it and so forth.
00:01:43.040 This is extremely troubling.
00:01:45.000 They don't even seem to understand the very basic fundamental components of freedom of speech here.
00:01:50.860 I mean, this is something that is so brazen, what they're doing, that if I had said a year ago,
00:01:56.400 hey, I think they're going to do this thing, you would say, no, no, can't be true.
00:01:59.640 Not going to happen.
00:02:00.840 Nada.
00:02:01.220 And yet that is exactly what's going on in Bill C-10.
00:02:04.120 Check out this piece of legislation.
00:02:05.860 Check out what the various commentators, experts in the field are saying on this.
00:02:09.300 And this is something that will really make your jaw drop.
00:02:12.320 Do we need state regulation of the internet?
00:02:15.200 I mean, there's been a lot of observations of late, particularly since the pandemic,
00:02:19.560 that unfortunately, China is not becoming more like Western nations like Canada,
00:02:23.820 but rather Canada is becoming more like a nation like China.
00:02:27.260 And look into the things that they have going on in terms of state intrusion in the internet,
00:02:32.040 and you'll understand why no more, no more state involvement in the internet should be allowed at all here in Canada.
00:02:39.080 I mean, to call it a slippery slope, I mean, we are beyond that point.
00:02:42.640 Bill C-10 allows us to basically fall down the slope at super fast ski hill speed.
00:02:48.580 We do not want anything like this coming to pass in Canada.
00:02:52.720 The basic idea that things that Stephen Colbeau randomly feels are stuff that should not be said by Canadians online,
00:02:58.900 well, we got a problem.
00:03:00.620 There are already defamation laws, libel laws, hate speech laws.
00:03:04.620 You cannot go and make threats against people online and so forth, and those laws are in place for a reason.
00:03:11.080 And we already actually have regulated speech here in Canada.
00:03:14.700 You can be punished for very serious and egregious offenses related to speech.
00:03:20.000 The idea that there are no regulations out there, I mean, that's just not true.
00:03:23.680 What Stephen Colbeau is talking about regulating are just things that he doesn't like,
00:03:28.660 things that he thinks you shouldn't be allowed to say.
00:03:30.620 And Canadians need to ask themselves, is that something that's acceptable to me?