The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - Freedom of speech is important.

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

00:00:07.620 host, Jamie Schmael, Member of Parliament for Halliburton. Co-author likes Brock with new

00:00:10.960 content for you every single Tuesday, 1.30 p.m. Eastern Time. We ask that you like, comment,

00:00:15.840 subscribe, share this program. We know there's someone in your social media network that would

00:00:20.400 be open to hearing this message. And of course, if they can't listen or watch this broadcast in

00:00:25.620 its entirety right this very second, you can have them downloaded on platforms like CastBox,

00:00:29.580 iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, you name it, it is out there. Another great show lined up for you

00:00:34.780 today. We are going to talk about Bill C-11, internet censorship. Very important topic.

00:00:40.520 We're going to bring on a good friend of the show, Rachel Thomas, Member of Parliament for Lethbridge,

00:00:44.260 also the Heritage Critic, to talk about it. Thanks very much. Thanks, Jamie. It's good to be here.

00:00:47.920 All right. We have the bill going to the Senate. It had a bunch of amendments made. It's now coming

00:00:51.980 back to the House of Commons, not to bore people with too much procedural wrangling, but it has to

00:00:57.440 come back to the House of Commons. So maybe I'll just turn it over to you, give us a brief update,

00:01:01.260 then we can get into the other stuff. Sure. Super briefly here. It was sent over to the Senate.

00:01:05.400 They looked at it at committee. And then, of course, they looked at it in their chamber in the form of

00:01:09.120 debate. And so it underwent some change. It took on 26 amendments and the removal of Clause 7.

00:01:15.860 You know, I guess I would summarize it this way. I would say C-11 overall is a terrible bill.

00:01:22.220 We need to kill it. I think I agree with that. Yeah. I think most Canadians who are paying attention 1.00

00:01:26.500 to this understand that there is something very dangerous about this bill and the hindrance it

00:01:32.880 will be to their free speech and their opportunity to choose what they consume online. Nevertheless,

00:01:38.780 those amendments do make a bad bill slightly better. I'll acknowledge that. But still a terrible

00:01:45.340 bill. Still a bill that needs to be killed. So it's exited the Senate now and it's been sent over 1.00

00:01:50.100 to the House of Commons. The government now has to sift through those amendments that have been made

00:01:53.960 and determine which amendments it will accept and which amendments it will reject.

00:01:58.020 There was an article in the National Post about a week or so ago, if going by memory,

00:02:02.860 the government still hadn't decided whether or not it's going to accept any amendments.

00:02:07.360 Exactly. I think the heritage minister said they're looking, but it doesn't look good.

00:02:12.400 Any indication you're getting from your sources? Yeah, exactly. So, you know, Minister Rodriguez,

00:02:17.520 the heritage minister who of course oversees this bill and the entire file, you know, he has indicated

00:02:22.700 that if there are any amendments that bring about substantial change to the bill, he will be rejecting

00:02:27.180 those. That is one thing that he has said. And so that being the case, we certainly expect the

00:02:32.860 government to reject at least some of the amendments, but the government could also reject

00:02:36.840 all amendments. They could say that they simply want the bill returned to its original state

00:02:41.640 before it got sent to the Senate. If that were the case, then of course, you know, we'd be entering

00:02:46.480 into debate around that in the House of Commons. And that's where we as the Conservative Party have an

00:02:51.260 opportunity to speak to this bill and to make our points with regards to the concerns we have.

00:02:56.380 We still believe that the government should be nowhere near the internet. They should not be

00:03:00.260 deciding what you can and cannot see, what you can and cannot listen to. And this is the fundamental

00:03:07.340 principle of freedom of speech. It doesn't matter if you agree with the person saying it, it's the

00:03:13.920 person's ability to say it. And I think that is very important, not to mention all the new content

00:03:20.780 creators that have been up and comers, out of nowhere. They didn't need to go through the traditional

00:03:25.920 methods going through the CBC or other places to get their start. They actually created something

00:03:31.520 out of their own free will, out of their own abilities, and are actually making a living because

00:03:37.540 of it. Yeah, I think you're hitting the nail on the head. Look, you know, things that are illegal

00:03:43.260 in this reality, if they are illegal according to the criminal code, they should then be illegal online.

00:03:50.920 Absolutely, 100%. I think all Canadians would agree. I would think so. This bill isn't, it isn't touching that.

00:03:58.680 It has nothing to do with those gross, disgusting things that would take place online. This bill

00:04:04.860 simply has to do with what can be posted online in a legal form and what cannot, based on government

00:04:12.780 dictation. In other words, the government has determined that there is going to be this definition

00:04:18.440 of Canadian-ness. And it is, and all content, as it stands right now, will be assessed as to whether

00:04:25.020 or not it's Canadian enough to appear on page one toward the top of your screen. Or if it's not so

00:04:31.140 Canadian, then it needs to be bumped down maybe to page 453, where it'll be boosted into oblivion and no

00:04:36.640 one will ever see it. Ultimately, it will be the government determining that through its regulatory arm,

00:04:42.360 the CRTC. Minister Rodriguez has already been really clear that he does have the ability to tell the

00:04:48.940 CRTC the way that it should regulate. And he has already stated that he has intended or has the intention to do so.

00:04:58.840 Canadians should be alarmed by that. Absolutely. They should absolutely be alarmed by that. That means that the material that they are able to post online

00:05:05.620 could be taken down or put aside, where it can't be discovered, based on what this current liberal government wants.

00:05:14.420 It also means that the content that I might want to view, you might want to view, Canadians will want to view, may or may not be accessible to them,

00:05:21.940 depending on whether or not the government wants them to be able to see it. So, from a viewership level, it has huge ramifications.

00:05:28.340 But also, we're hearing from digital-first creators, those that are, you know, the YouTubers of the world, the TikTokers of the world,

00:05:35.060 those individuals who have, you know, gone above and beyond to make a go of it for themselves within the virtual sphere.

00:05:43.860 And they are knocking it out of the park. They are so incredibly successful here in Canada in reaching a global audience.

00:05:50.740 What this bill will do is it'll actually prevent them from being able to go outside of our gates.

00:05:56.180 It'll actually hem them in or wall them in. And so it'll actually, it'll hinder their ability to reach a global audience

00:06:04.260 and therefore thwart their success as digital-first-graders.

00:06:07.460 Well, that is the thing that puzzles me and really frustrates me is that Canadian content, when it's good,

00:06:13.140 people will watch it.

00:06:14.100 Totally.

00:06:14.580 They will watch that kind of stuff. And my taste of what I like to watch and listen to is totally different

00:06:20.180 than what you probably will watch and listen to. And that's a good thing. We want the variety of voices.

00:06:24.980 We want that freedom of choice that Canadians can make. This idea that the government picking and choosing,

00:06:30.980 what is a priority to them? Well, the government's priority is not my priority.

00:06:36.100 Yeah.

00:06:36.420 And it should be that space where that freedom is allowed and not trampled upon.

00:06:42.180 Absolutely. And you know, one of the things that the minister has said over and over and over again,

00:06:46.180 he's claimed that this bill is all about protecting Canadian culture. It's all about making sure that,

00:06:51.780 you know, Canadians are celebrating what it is to be Canadian. Well, who better to decide what our

00:06:57.460 culture should consist of than Canadians? That's not something that the government should be dictating

00:07:03.300 to us. And it's not the government's job to pick winners and losers in terms of content creators.

00:07:09.060 So the government shouldn't have the ability to decide this digital first creator or this digital

00:07:14.660 artist gets to succeed because they're Canadian enough. Meanwhile, this digital creator who is

00:07:19.460 Canadian isn't quite Canadian enough in their content. And so we're just going to bump them back where 0.98

00:07:23.940 they can't be discovered. That's wrong. That's wrong. That is not the country that I know to be

00:07:30.900 Canada. Canada is a free democratic society where every single individual should be given equal

00:07:37.380 opportunity to thrive based on their ability to put in the work. I know we've talked about this a few

00:07:44.740 times before about the music industry. If the government controlled the music industry, they would decide

00:07:50.420 what it is we get to listen to, right? There wouldn't be this wide variety. You wouldn't see this

00:07:56.660 evolution of the music industry from one genre to another and things just keep getting bigger,

00:08:01.860 better with more selection. The government would probably shut it down and we'd be listening to,

00:08:07.700 you know, orchestra music because when the country started, that was probably at the time that was

00:08:12.580 pretty popular. But there would be no evolution because there would always be conflict within the

00:08:19.220 government. This is what we know. This is what is out there. This is all you get. And that's not where

00:08:25.300 we are right now. And I bring this, I kind of thought of this before. It's like the Lego movie,

00:08:30.820 right? Emmett, the main character, gets up in the morning. There's one song on the radio. There's the

00:08:35.540 one channel, the government channel giving you the, you know, the happy, happy news of the day. Then he

00:08:40.740 goes to his government job and there's one thing for everything, right? That is basically what it is. The Lego movie

00:08:46.820 is what this government is almost promoting. Yeah, I think you're hitting the nail on the head once

00:08:51.620 again. You know, and Canadians have expressed their concern, especially digital first creators.

00:08:57.700 You know, certainly they're wanting to be able to exercise their creative freedom. They're wanting to

00:09:01.860 be able to put something out there that Canadians and the world might enjoy. They're wanting to make

00:09:07.540 a go of it. And the truth is they are. And so by the government now coming in and intervening,

00:09:12.500 and they're doing it in the name of help, right? It's not helpful. Digital first creators have been

00:09:17.780 abundantly clear about that when they testify at committee and as they're engaging online,

00:09:21.940 they are saying no to government intervention. They are not wanting this liberal government to put its

00:09:27.460 finger on the internet and to tip the scales in favor of one digital first creator over another,

00:09:32.340 or to determine what Canadian content is or what Canadian culture is. It's just, look, it's a bill

00:09:41.220 that is looking for a problem, a problem that doesn't actually exist. Digital first creators

00:09:46.180 are doing extremely well in our country. Absolutely. They're not wanting the government

00:09:49.620 to intervene and supposedly advocate on their behalf. And so ultimately this bill, it does come down to

00:09:55.380 censorship. It does come down to control. It does come down to a government wanting to weigh in

00:10:00.900 far too heavily with regards to how we engage online, which I would argue is the new public square

00:10:06.740 and where the exchange of ideas should be able to happen freely. Because you can see the next few

00:10:11.460 steps, right? The government deciding, well, we don't like the voices that oppose what we are doing.

00:10:17.140 So we'll classify that under hate speech or probably un-Canadian or who knows. He's called

00:10:23.940 certain people un-Canadian before, at least the housing minister did. You can see how this ball could roll

00:10:29.780 into an all-encompassing government bureaucracy controlling the very internet that we love.

00:10:36.900 Absolutely. And the thing about the internet is that it's this incredibly magical space because

00:10:44.180 the CRTC was created to regulate radio and television under the Broadcasting Act. And that

00:10:51.380 was put in place because radio and television were finite resources. There were limited channels,

00:10:55.860 limited radio stations. And so in order to make sure that French language was represented, to make

00:11:01.380 sure that other cultures were represented, the CRTC put stipulations in place to make sure that a

00:11:07.060 finite resource was shared. When it comes to the internet, we're not dealing with a finite resource

00:11:12.420 anymore. Anyone who wants to have space on the internet can have space on the internet. It's this

00:11:18.500 incredibly powerful sphere that actually levels the playing field and allows anyone and everyone who

00:11:26.100 wants to have a voice, they have a voice, they have a platform. And when the government intervenes and

00:11:32.180 imposes algorithms on that voice, that's actually when the playing field is no longer level.

00:11:37.860 What can people do? If I'm concerned about this, what can I do?

00:11:41.300 Good question. Thanks.

00:11:42.180 Is there anything left to do?

00:11:43.700 Yeah, there definitely is. Look, we are in the final hour,

00:11:46.340 but I certainly appreciate the call to action because I think it is so, so, so important.

00:11:51.300 And so with great urgency, I would ask that Canadians who are interested in protecting their

00:11:56.740 freedom online, their ability to use their voice within that sphere, their ability to access the

00:12:02.580 information or the content that they wish to access, then I would ask those individuals to do

00:12:07.780 a couple of things. Write the Heritage Minister, Minister Rodriguez, and tell him, hands off the internet.

00:12:13.620 It can actually be that simple. One sentence does the trick. It doesn't need to be a long letter.

00:12:17.060 It doesn't need to be cumbersome. Just keep your hands off. Kill Bill C-11.

00:12:20.980 And the second thing that I would say is write to the Liberal members of Parliament.

00:12:26.500 We know for a fact that there are many on that side of the House that won their elections by a

00:12:31.460 slim margin. And if enough Canadians speak out, I think we can really make a difference in terms of

00:12:37.540 perhaps persuading them or at least creating some turmoil over there.

00:12:41.220 Yeah, it's an interesting turn of events here and how the left, while they call anyone on the

00:12:47.780 conservative side every single name, they're actually the one clamping down. They're actually

00:12:52.420 doing the one of, you will obey what I say when I do it and just keep pushing it uphill. We've got it

00:13:00.180 from here. We're the elite class. Why would you need some of the silly shows you listen and watch?

00:13:07.220 You know, it's just so frustrating that the left has grown into this big monster of control. 0.99

00:13:16.820 Absolutely. But we know throughout history that this has been the case, right? We know that leaders

00:13:24.500 on that left side of the political spectrum often end up going into this sphere where they're demanding

00:13:29.460 control, where they're demanding obedience, where they're demanding compliance, where there's only

00:13:34.180 one right way of doing things. And so essentially Bill C-11 is leading us down that path and in that

00:13:40.020 direction, which again is why I would say there's such urgency for Canadians to speak up and to speak

00:13:44.980 out with regard to this issue. Absolutely. Rachel, we're almost out of time. I give the floor always to

00:13:50.660 the guest. Do you have any closing thoughts, anything you'd like to say? Thank you, Jamie.

00:13:56.980 Look, you know, I think my only closing comment would be this. Again, I would just drive home the

00:14:01.700 fact that we have a very small window here of opportunity to speak up with regard to Bill C-11

00:14:07.940 and to urge the government to back down. We have an opportunity to speak out on our behalf as Canadians to

00:14:15.140 defend our right, our collective right as a nation to speak freely online and to be able to access the

00:14:22.740 things that we wish to online. We have an opportunity to stand up for true Canadian culture, which is

00:14:29.300 determined by the people and not by the government. That is beautiful. I could not say it any better

00:14:34.420 myself. Well, thank you for having me. That's why we have you in the show. Rachel Thomas, Member of

00:14:38.020 Parliament for Lethbridge, also the critic for Heritage. We appreciate her time. We appreciate your time

00:14:42.820 as well. Please heed her message. Please tell your friends. Write to Heritage Minister. Hands off the

00:14:48.660 internet. Kill Bill C-11. Simple as that. Please do it now. Tell your friends about it. You know what's 1.00

00:14:53.540 even better? You can like, comment, subscribe, share this program. Let them hear it in their own ears,

00:14:57.940 with their own eyes. Download it to platforms like CastBox, iTunes, Google Play, and Spotify. New

00:15:03.460 content every single Tuesday, 1.30 p.m. Eastern Time. Until then, low taxes, less governments,

00:15:08.580 more freedom. That's the blueprint.

The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - February 22, 2023

Freedom of speech is important.

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