Juno News - April 28, 2021


Trudeau wants to regulate what you post online


Episode Stats

Length

3 minutes

Words per Minute

178.5862

Word Count

576

Sentence Count

27


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 The Liberal government wants to give itself the power to regulate, to censor, this video.
00:00:11.280 And all videos like it, posted by me, sure, but by you, by anyone else, by any Canadian.
00:00:19.880 Bill C-10, a piece of legislation that's been put forward by Heritage Minister Stephen Guaubo,
00:00:24.520 I guarantee you it's only going to become more controversial in the days and weeks ahead, as it should.
00:00:31.580 A number of experts in the field saying,
00:00:33.380 we got a lot of problems with this piece of legislation geared towards the CRTC,
00:00:39.260 dealing with telecommunications issues that actually, based on this legislation,
00:00:44.480 allows the government to give powers to the CRTC to poke around into both video content
00:00:51.140 put up on places like YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter, and so forth, by news agencies,
00:00:56.720 but also by regular folks.
00:00:59.020 UGC, they call it, user-generated content.
00:01:01.860 They actually made a revision to the legislation just a few days ago at the Heritage Committee
00:01:06.720 that added that new tweak.
00:01:08.800 User-generated content had been exempt.
00:01:11.020 It is exempt no more.
00:01:12.680 Now, the Liberal government and Minister Guaubo, their offices say,
00:01:15.440 look, we have some good intentions, there are reasons behind this, and so forth,
00:01:18.320 but a whole bunch of experts in these fields say,
00:01:21.620 we got a situation here.
00:01:23.380 I mean, this just opens the door to a lot of concerns
00:01:26.340 when it comes to, basically, the government getting involved in regulating the internet,
00:01:31.380 people's content on the internet.
00:01:33.580 I think a lot of people consider just chatting on social media,
00:01:37.060 and chatting on social media increasingly means putting up pictures, memes, videos,
00:01:42.240 of you giving your reactions, and so forth.
00:01:43.880 So, people look at that as really just the virtual version of them
00:01:47.840 hanging out at the coffee shop, at the bar, what have you,
00:01:51.000 sitting around the kitchen table, shooting the breeze,
00:01:53.200 and giving their thoughts on the sports game, or on politics of the day, and so forth.
00:01:57.540 But, increasingly, people are finding, well, hold on a second.
00:02:00.460 No, they're now trying to regulate this, and treat it like it's something different.
00:02:04.640 Stephen Guaubo also talking about other regulations,
00:02:07.560 and different pieces of legislation potentially coming down the pipes
00:02:11.020 in the weeks and months ahead.
00:02:13.580 Look, do we need more regulation of the internet?
00:02:16.900 I think the answer is just plain no.
00:02:19.540 Is there more crassness?
00:02:21.240 Is there more inappropriate behavior, and so forth, going on on the internet online?
00:02:25.540 Maybe there's an argument for that.
00:02:26.900 Well, I think people should be nice.
00:02:28.260 They should govern themselves accordingly, and so forth.
00:02:30.620 Other people, perhaps, should just not have so low of a barometer of offense.
00:02:34.360 And, most importantly, there are already laws, as there should be,
00:02:37.920 concerning libel, and defamation, and copyright, and other illegal content that people may post.
00:02:42.860 And, the authorities are already in power to act upon that.
00:02:45.700 And, one already has legal rights when it comes to things that are being,
00:02:49.220 that are happening online, when it comes to issues just like defamation and libel.
00:02:53.680 So, what is actually going on here?
00:02:56.560 Well, I think what's going on in the public discussion
00:02:59.080 is more people are waking up to what's going on with this legislation
00:03:03.120 and saying, hold on a second.
00:03:04.680 We don't like the looks of this at all.
00:03:06.380 Whatever good intentions you have,
00:03:08.420 we think this is a Pandora's box.
00:03:10.800 And, Canadians, again, be saying,
00:03:12.240 we don't want you to open it.