The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - Free Speech and Bill C-10

00:00:00.000 Hello and welcome once again to The Blueprints. This is Canada's Conservative Podcast. I'm your

00:00:07.080 host, Jamie Schmael, Member of Parliament for Halliburton, for the likes Brock. Thank you once

00:00:11.560 again for joining us with new content every single Tuesday, 1.30 p.m. Eastern Time. With this

00:00:17.240 content, we ask that you like, subscribe, share this program, even comment. Help us push back

00:00:22.680 against the ever-moving Liberal agenda because we know there's someone in your social media network

00:00:27.120 that might be open to hearing the Conservative message. This is your way to do that and your

00:00:31.600 way to help ensure that Erin O'Toole is the next Prime Minister of Canada. And of course, 1.00

00:00:36.240 if you can't watch this program in its entirety right now, you can download it later on and listen

00:00:40.760 to it on platforms like CastBox, iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, you name it, it is out there.

00:00:46.460 The topic today is something we've talked about many times before. It's Bill C-10. This is a piece

00:00:50.960 of legislation that started out as a way to level the playing field between the traditional broadcasters

00:00:56.560 and the new ways of communicating the internet streamers. Now, of course, that has then

00:01:02.820 ballooned into something totally different in terms of how the government is now, if passed

00:01:08.540 by the Senate, has the power to control what content you see, what content you don't. It

00:01:13.900 has the power to promote certain content. So to bring on someone to talk about this, this

00:01:18.200 is something new as well. We've only done this a couple of times in the history of the blueprint

00:01:23.620 as we work to become Canada's number one Conservative podcast. We're going to bring

00:01:27.800 in Spencer Fernando. Of course, many of you know him as an independent columnist. He's

00:01:31.920 a social media guy. He puts a lot of his content out and it gets shared freely and openly by

00:01:38.480 people who enjoy what he puts out there. But this is someone who will be specifically hurt

00:01:43.880 by this piece of legislation. Spencer, welcome to the program.

00:01:47.220 Good to be here.

00:01:48.340 So Bill C-10, I know you've written about it and you've engaged on this topic. Maybe you

00:01:54.640 can tell us a bit about how potentially you could be affected by this, given the fact that

00:02:00.240 you have built a network, a line of supporters, people that may agree, may disagree with your content,

00:02:08.280 but actually choose to follow you because they want to read or listen to what you have to say

00:02:15.600 and then digest it.

00:02:17.920 Yeah, well, it's a big concern because what the government is obviously doing, what the

00:02:22.780 Liberals are doing, is I think they're upset they're losing control over how people share

00:02:28.940 information and what people say, right? So they have CBC, obviously, and we see CBC again saying

00:02:34.120 they need more money, right? So CBC gets private ad revenue and they get a bunch of government

00:02:38.660 funding and they still keep failing. And so I think the Liberals are saying, well, it looks

00:02:43.680 like when people choose independent media, they're not choosing things that the Liberals like to

00:02:49.620 see. And so they want to get control back. And I think it's a bit of kind of, you could call

00:02:56.060 it a deal with the devil between the Liberals and the establishment media, really, because a lot

00:03:02.820 of the establishment media is struggling. You know, they're not getting the views and the ratings

00:03:06.760 they want. And the Liberals, they want something they can control. So they kind of both agree,

00:03:11.180 well, you know, we'll try to restrict independent media and we'll try to, you know, narrow down

00:03:15.040 the balance of debate in the country. And, you know, I think that's what they're trying to do.

00:03:19.980 Now, I've said this many times before, I take it you will agree, this could be a very dark and

00:03:25.740 dangerous path we could be going down, given the fact that the government, as you mentioned,

00:03:30.360 could say, we like this content, we don't. Because eventually, the speech that becomes

00:03:36.220 things the government doesn't want to promote is anything that disagrees with their narrative

00:03:40.820 or their approach to things.

00:03:43.660 Yeah, I mean, it's similar to what they're doing, I think, with, I think, Bill C-36, right?

00:03:48.260 Where they're expanding the definition of hate speech. And, you know, it's interesting,

00:03:52.480 I saw Jagmeet Singh even talking about that. And he said, oh, well, right now, there's nothing you

00:03:56.860 can do if there's hateful content on the internet. And that's just not true at all, right? I mean,

00:04:00.340 he's a lawyer, you'd think he would know better, but obviously not. And there's a lot of stuff the

00:04:04.340 government can do, they already have, you know, legislative power and legal authority to deal

00:04:08.500 with hate content, wherever it is. So that's not really what it's all about, right? It's about

00:04:12.420 controlling people, it's about narrowing down the balance of acceptable speech. And, you know,

00:04:17.300 it's quite disturbing to see, you know, you look at, obviously, a country like China, 1.00

00:04:21.100 right? It's a communist state. And, you know, they obviously have only state media in China,

00:04:26.420 right? There's no such thing as independent media. You'd think in a free country or supposedly free

00:04:30.600 country like Canada, we want to move in the opposite direction. But it seems like a lot of

00:04:34.680 governments, you know, Western governments, especially the liberal government here,

00:04:38.940 they seem to look at China as a model, you know, they're trying to move Canada closer to that kind

00:04:44.180 of country, where the only opinions you can have are opinions the government allows you to have.

00:04:48.780 And that's the direction they're moving in. I think people should be very concerned about that.

00:04:52.480 Well, why aren't they concerned? How come the outrage has not been there? You think,

00:04:56.940 you just turn the tables for a second, and say, a conservative prime minister was in power,

00:05:01.620 and a conservative prime minister brought in Bill C-10, this controlling piece of legislation.

00:05:07.220 I think there will be protests in the streets about this. Why the silence? Why is it just,

00:05:12.420 meh? Well, I think part of it is, you know, it's obviously a double standard, right? I mean,

00:05:17.420 imagine if Stephen Harper had done something like this, right? It would be all Harper's a dictator,

00:05:21.160 right? People would be going crazy. But I think it's also because the establishment media wants

00:05:25.600 this to happen, right? So they have an interest in there not being a lot of, you know, outrage and

00:05:29.340 anger about it, because they stand to benefit from it, right? I mean, they have so many advantages,

00:05:34.240 and yet they're still struggling. Someone like me, you know, I start up a website really basically

00:05:38.000 on my own. And, you know, it's gotten pretty big, you know, a lot of other people, you know,

00:05:42.020 True North, you know, Rebel Media, although I know you guys aren't talking to them too much,

00:05:45.800 but that's for you guys to worry about. But Rebel Media has done well, True North,

00:05:49.420 obviously, in the post-millennial, you know, National Telegraph. So there's a lot of different

00:05:53.420 people who are succeeding without any government funding. And, you know, people, as you say,

00:05:58.200 people choose to consume the content, or they choose not to. And apparently that's not good

00:06:03.120 enough for the Liberals and much of the media. So, you know, they don't want there to be outrage

00:06:07.200 because they stand to benefit from it.

00:06:09.500 So the media, so the CBC, let's start with the CBC first. They get about a billion dollars,

00:06:13.680 or over a billion dollars in annual subsidy for that. Then you get the other media, the kind of

00:06:19.020 the Ottawa-centric media, they get about $600 million in government money to keep them afloat.

00:06:26.800 But somehow, like you mentioned, yourself and other organizations are somehow making a go of it.

00:06:32.440 And you're actually putting content people freely choose to watch or listen to. And you also,

00:06:38.400 if they don't like it, you have the, they have the ability, the individual has the ability to

00:06:42.720 unsubscribe to that content. You don't need some government regulator pushing buttons and telling

00:06:48.740 people what to see and listen.

00:06:51.520 Yeah. And I think that's, that's what makes it very interesting, right? Is that there's obviously

00:06:54.780 a market for independent media, a market for people who, you know, criticize everybody. Like,

00:06:59.000 I'm sure, you know, I criticize, you know, Aaron O'Toole and the Conservative Party quite a lot.

00:07:02.840 And then I criticize the Liberals and the NDP, right? And so I think there's a market for people

00:07:06.640 who want to see, you know, fair coverage, right? But much of the media, of course,

00:07:10.100 their criticism of the Conservative Party is much harsher than the Liberal Party, or they just

00:07:14.780 don't criticize the Liberals or NDP at all, right? I mean, Jagmeet Singh gets away with saying a lot

00:07:18.960 of things that would be considered misinformation if it wasn't, you know, a politically correct

00:07:22.520 politician, you could say, right? So, yeah, it's just that they, you know, they don't like the fact

00:07:28.400 that people are choosing content that they don't agree with. And rather than respecting the fact that,

00:07:32.780 you know, this is a free country, you know, you're supposed to respect people's choices,

00:07:35.800 whether you agree or not. They've just decided, you know, we'll use the power of the government,

00:07:39.680 and we'll decide what people can consume to what they can't. And again, in a free country,

00:07:44.980 that's not what's supposed to be happening.

00:07:47.840 So how can people stop this? Like, obviously, like I said, you've engaged on it. We as an

00:07:53.140 opposition have been pushing back on it. You've mentioned the NDP, they support this piece of

00:07:57.680 legislation, Bill C-10, the Bloc Québécois support this piece of legislation, the Liberals support it.

00:08:02.800 We are the only party in Parliament pushing back against this. But how can we rally people to kind

00:08:10.080 of realize what is going on, because the mainstream media isn't talking about it? And I don't want it

00:08:14.500 to be too late, right? Usually, this stuff happens, it's too late. And then people start wondering,

00:08:19.100 where did all the content I used to watch and read, it seems to disappear? Like, we don't want to get to

00:08:24.800 that point, because it's too late. You know, well, I think, you know, it sounds maybe old fashioned,

00:08:29.960 but I really do think reaching out to your MP, you know, if you don't have a, you know, MP who's

00:08:35.080 opposing it, reaching out to them and, you know, telling them what you think, you know, visiting

00:08:38.820 their office and respectfully, of course, you know, we don't want people, you know, doing anything

00:08:42.120 crazy, but, you know, respectfully reaching out. And I think, you know, I worked for an MP for a few

00:08:47.100 years, and, you know, they do listen, you know, they do notice when a bunch of people are contacting

00:08:51.260 them about the same thing. And it might not even be that you're trying to, you know, you think a Liberal MP

00:08:56.060 is going to change their mind, you know, out of some sort of, you know, moral virtue, but, you know,

00:08:59.860 people want to get reelected, right? So if you start getting worried, you're not going to get

00:09:03.040 reelected. If you're supporting Bill C-10 and legislation like that, then they might change

00:09:08.020 their minds and bring some internal pressure. So I really think, you know, one thing you have

00:09:12.140 to give the left credit for, unfortunately, is that they don't just treat elections as, you know,

00:09:17.200 the only time politics happens, right? They're constantly working, right? And so they're trying

00:09:21.160 to change the society and change the culture in between elections. And then it's often tough for

00:09:25.240 conservatives because they get to the election, like, oh, the country seems to have changed

00:09:28.280 quite a lot, right? So I think that's something people, you know, on the right and center right

00:09:33.000 need to start doing as well as realizing, look, it's a constant fight. It's a constant battle.

00:09:37.040 You know, there's always people trying to restrict freedom. It doesn't just automatically,

00:09:40.700 you know, stay around, you know, just stay free just because you hope it's going to work out well.

00:09:44.260 So I think constantly fighting and constantly battling is kind of the attitude a lot of people

00:09:48.200 have to have.

00:09:49.400 Well, I couldn't agree with you more. I think that's even at the beginning of the show,

00:09:52.220 I always say we have to push back against the ever moving Liberal agenda because you're right,

00:09:55.960 that ball does not stop rolling. Sometimes they slow down a bit, but they seem to be always in

00:10:02.120 motion. And I look at countries like Venezuela, for example, it took about 10 years or so before they

00:10:08.700 got to the point where they're in now, right? They're obviously going downhill fast. They have

00:10:14.480 been for a long time, but it's slowly, piece by piece, some of their freedoms, their money supply,

00:10:22.000 all of it, their jobs, everything slowly went away because the government was taking control

00:10:27.700 of it. Communication, you name it. And this is something I think you're right. We do need to

00:10:33.200 fight back and we do need to ensure that it doesn't happen here because it can be done

00:10:38.320 step by step, slowly, but slowly. And we need to push back.

00:10:44.560 Yeah. It's like that saying, you know, how did you go bankrupt? It's like very slowly and then

00:10:47.920 all at once, right? I mean, that's, I think that's how freedom goes away, you know? And that's,

00:10:51.400 that's what I say to people when I write about it. People say, oh, it's, it's going too far to compare

00:10:55.460 what the Liberals are doing, say to China or something. I say, you never look at each individual

00:10:59.760 by action, but you look at the direction, you know, do the Liberals ever move in a direction

00:11:03.880 that's more pro-freedom or pro-free speech? Of course not. It's all in one direction,

00:11:08.580 more government power, less free speech, less independent media, more centralized control.

00:11:12.980 So, so you say, okay, what's the end game of that? Where, where does that end up? And it does

00:11:17.740 end up if you, as you say, in a place like Venezuela or a country like China, where there is no, you know,

00:11:23.140 there's no real freedom. I mean, look at Venezuela, right? I mean, they had an election. People really

00:11:27.260 voted to get rid of, you know, the, the socialist government there. The popularity of that government

00:11:32.940 has got to be somewhere in the twenties. I mean, the country's basically, they basically have no economy,

00:11:37.720 but they're still in power, right? I mean, at a certain point when the government sees all levers of power,

00:11:42.380 you know, military force, communications, media, and everything, there's nothing where the people

00:11:46.820 can do. And so, you know, and Venezuela was, I think the richest country in South America for a

00:11:51.640 while, as possibly the world's largest proven oil reserves, or maybe second after Saudi Arabia.

00:11:57.540 So of all the countries in the world, you think would never, you know, collapse and would never be

00:12:01.600 poor, then Venezuela will be one of them. But lo and behold, that's what socialism manages to achieve,

00:12:06.880 right? So we have to be very careful it doesn't happen here.

00:12:09.600 But it's always sold as something that is great, it's shiny, it will solve all. But socialism has

00:12:15.960 not, to my knowledge, lifted anyone out of poverty. I guess those that are close to government,

00:12:22.040 those that are connected to government, the well-lawy, the well-lobby, maybe they get rich,

00:12:26.700 and you're right. I guess the 20% in Venezuela that support the current government, they're probably

00:12:32.500 the ones with the electricity still on or still getting fed, right? They're the ones that seem to

00:12:37.860 manage to fill their tummies. Yeah, I mean, Venezuela, I think at one point, the average 0.98

00:12:42.700 person had lost about 20-25 pounds due to food shortages. But whenever you looked at photos of

00:12:47.580 Nicolas Maduro, and the top generals and top government officials, I mean, just say that they

00:12:52.020 didn't look like they had any food shortage problems, right? So, you know, that's the thing.

00:12:56.080 Socialism, it says that we're going to fight inequality. And I guess it does, it just makes

00:12:59.860 everybody poor, except people in government, right? So there's maybe more equality and suffering and

00:13:04.720 poverty at the bottom, but the only people at the top are, you know, government officials. And that's

00:13:08.700 not quite the way it's normally sold to people. And I always love it that the difference is that

00:13:13.680 the people making the rules, they rarely follow the rules that they want for everyone else,

00:13:18.960 right? Socialism is for the people, not the socialists, right? They always lived with a 1.00

00:13:23.600 different standard, and they live above the people. It's really a weird dynamic. And yet you have

00:13:30.120 that following that seems to think that socialism is the be-all and end-all. But when you really look

00:13:35.200 into it, all it causes is poverty and misery. Yeah, of course, that's never real socialism,

00:13:42.180 right? Every time it fails, oh, we just, just, that wasn't actually, actually, that was a state

00:13:46.320 capitalism. Capitalism, that's what I say, right? It's not really socialism. It was just a failed

00:13:51.000 state capitalism. So we'll try socialism again. And this time, trust me, it'll work this time.

00:13:55.700 So that's a big concern. But, you know, it's, I think it was a video Jordan Peterson did. And it's,

00:14:00.980 it's a really good point that's relevant for today. And he talked about how, you know, our society has

00:14:05.860 very good, you know, kind of, we're very attuned to any sign of fascism, right? Like, we're always

00:14:11.040 on the lookout for it, which is a good thing, right? We want to make sure that doesn't happen. But we

00:14:14.840 don't quite have the same, you know, ability to recognize the danger of communism, right? When politicians

00:14:19.640 are saying things in Canada that are very similar to what communists did, you know, people think,

00:14:24.920 oh, it sounds very nice. Oh, we're going to help everybody. I mean, that's the same thing they

00:14:28.140 were saying in China and the Soviet Union, the rhetoric is very similar. And we saw how that

00:14:32.280 ended up, right? It doesn't end up in any good place. So I think that's one thing we need to

00:14:36.760 educate people about too, is, you know, fascism and communism. Yes, they both fought each other

00:14:41.360 in at certain times, but there's a lot of similarities between them. And we have to realize that both are

00:14:46.320 very dangerous.

00:14:46.920 I always call the two kissing cousins, because they really are. You're right. They are. You're

00:14:51.780 right. Absolutely. They fought against each other many times in history. But at the same time, they

00:14:55.940 are very close to what they want, the end game. So we are running out of time. But I do want to go

00:15:01.800 back to, to kind of the independent columnists like yourself that are putting content out on social media

00:15:08.140 and other platforms, you're developing yourself, usually a small operation, but you do have a pretty

00:15:12.920 solid following. And that's a good thing. And we want more people like you. And we're just not

00:15:17.580 saying, you know, conservative leading commentators, we want a wide variety of voices, because

00:15:22.660 free, free speech is what oftentimes advances the agenda or allows critical thinking in a number of

00:15:29.960 areas. And that's something we don't want to see taken away. And maybe you could just close out with

00:15:35.000 some comments regarding Bill C-10 and, and what that could do to to your business.

00:15:39.040 Yeah, well, I think it's it just gives the government a level of power they shouldn't

00:15:43.800 have, right? They're trying to centralize all media, they're going to probably try to make

00:15:46.780 people like myself register, right? And then when you register, of course, the government will have

00:15:50.780 control over your content, they'll be able to restrict it. And again, I think it's not going

00:15:54.780 to happen all at once, right? I mean, the liberals for all their flaws, they're not idiots, right? 1.00

00:15:58.740 Which is almost the problem. If they were idiots, it would make it easier. But they know what they're 1.00

00:16:02.540 doing. They're very slowly moving towards a situation where all media is government controlled,

00:16:06.580 right? So it won't happen all at once, you know, I'll still be putting content out there. But

00:16:09.780 then maybe, oh, you know, you can't actually say this, or this violates the rules. So you have to

00:16:14.180 delete this one. And then you get put on a list somewhere. And then, oh, you know, you can't get

00:16:18.320 web services in the country because you're on a list. I mean, they move, they move slowly, but the

00:16:22.800 direction they're moving is very clear. So I think people need to push back against it. And, you know,

00:16:28.520 a lot of people, you know, the average person is influenced a lot by, you know, friends or family who

00:16:33.460 really follow politics, right? I mean, most people aren't following it very closely. And

00:16:36.620 that's understandable. They've got their lives to live. But if you're someone who, you know,

00:16:39.960 really follows politics and knows a lot about it, then it's kind of up to you to, you know,

00:16:43.520 help educate and, you know, talk to people around you. You know, if you don't trust the

00:16:47.960 establishment media, then you don't leave it to the media to influence people around you,

00:16:51.740 or you've got to try to influence them yourself. So that's what I say. Each person needs to recognize

00:16:55.700 the power and potential they have to change minds and influence the direction of the country

00:16:59.440 and just never give up. Couldn't have said it better myself. Well done, Spencer Fernando. We

00:17:05.120 do appreciate your time. Independent columnist giving his thoughts on Bill C-10. So like Spencer

00:17:10.580 said, we need you to like, comment, subscribe, share this program, help us push back against that

00:17:15.540 ever moving liberal agenda. As Spencer said, there could be someone in your social media network

00:17:19.480 that might be open to hearing this message, something they are not getting in the traditional

00:17:23.720 media. This is your way to do that and hope to change the current government in Ottawa.

00:17:28.020 As always, new content every single Tuesday, 1.30 p.m. Eastern time. We do appreciate it. If

00:17:33.080 you didn't get a chance to watch it all now, download it later on, listen to it on platforms

00:17:36.920 like CastBox, iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, you name it, it is out there. And remember,

00:17:41.720 low taxes, less government, more freedom. That is the blueprint.

The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - August 20, 2021

Free Speech and Bill C-10

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