The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - Government Censorship

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

00:00:11.840 host, Jamie Schmael, Member of Parliament for Halliburton Corps at the Lake Sprock,

00:00:15.500 welcoming you back with new content every single Tuesday, 1.30 p.m. Eastern Time. Please like,

00:00:21.340 comment, subscribe, share this program. Together we can push back against the ever-moving liberal

00:00:25.500 agenda. And as always, if you can't watch or listen to the entire program right this second,

00:00:30.180 you can download it, listen to it on platforms like CastBox, iTunes, Google Play, Spotify,

00:00:35.040 you name it, it is out there. Another great show for you today, something that I think a lot of

00:00:39.780 people are concerned about, especially those that get their content from the internet. We're talking

00:00:44.840 about internet censorship, what the Liberals are doing yet again. You remember in the last

00:00:50.780 parliament, you probably heard of Bill C-10. Well, it's back. And here to talk about that is

00:00:55.800 Ziad Abutayev, Member of Parliament for Edmonton. Manning is also the Deputy Shadow Critic for

00:01:00.820 Foreign Affairs. Thank you so much for coming back on the show. Thank you, Jamie, for having me

00:01:05.200 this afternoon. All right, my goodness, scary times ahead. Not only is this government trying to

00:01:11.100 control how you live your life, they're also controlling what you can see and hear on the

00:01:15.860 internet. Absolutely incredible. Yes, it is. And we thought that C-10 that died on the floor of 0.96

00:01:23.640 the Senate because of, you know, it was left there because of the election. We thought that was over

00:01:31.900 and done with. Now the Liberals are bringing the C-11 back. It's nothing but, you know, extra control

00:01:40.060 over free speech, over internet content, over YouTube users and creators. You know, whether

00:01:49.200 you're a musician or you're a storyteller or whatever you want to create on YouTube, they want

00:01:56.260 to control that. They want to have a piece of that. So there's extra censoring and more of a control on

00:02:01.560 the free speech. Absolutely. We've seen this in countries in other parts of the world. And I think

00:02:06.560 myself, I look at that and go, wow, that can never happen here, but it's happening. And I think the

00:02:11.940 crux of the matter is, well, we should have free speech and you should have the ability to say what's

00:02:18.060 on your mind. It also gives the other side the ability to be free from that speech, right? You

00:02:22.860 disagree, you move on, maybe you counter whatever. But at the end of the day, encouraging the free

00:02:29.540 conversation is what grows the society. And at the end of the day, you also have somebody that has to

00:02:35.800 make that decision as to what is offensive. And at that point, it usually becomes someone friendly

00:02:43.200 with the government who then criticizes or blocks any criticism of that government.

00:02:48.060 Yeah. All the governments still living in the world where they legislate broadcasting, okay,

00:02:56.560 since 1928, you know, when the Department of Fishery and Marine, that first time that they

00:03:02.120 regulate broadcasting. So they're still mixing now or either trying to ignore the fact or they're

00:03:07.680 trying to purposely do it by trying to say, okay, we are regulating broadcasting. Internet is not a

00:03:13.700 broadcasting. It's white casting. And that's why when you try to control that, you're telling a lot of 0.89

00:03:20.500 people, I control what you watch and I control what you share. And how can you do it? I mean,

00:03:26.820 internet is such a wide thing. It's not just regulated to a geographic location. It's just

00:03:32.340 anywhere up in the air, anywhere in the world, in any spot and beyond. So they want to control that.

00:03:38.120 I don't know how they're going to do that. But just having the idea of trying to censor free speech

00:03:45.100 and control what people watch and what people share is scary. And Canadian, I'm sure they will 1.00

00:03:51.380 be worried and they will be watching what's going to happen to this bit and how we're going to fight

00:03:57.940 it. Because such thing is, again, is a control of free speech. Just something not within, you know,

00:04:04.240 that's against our chart of right and freedom and also against the way we live our life in Canada.

00:04:11.080 Well, if you think about it, looking at how the market grows, right? You have the, I'll take the

00:04:16.180 taxi industry, for example. You have the traditional kind of medallion licensed taxi, but you also have

00:04:21.640 other platforms like Uber and Lyft. And they're popular because they offer something different. And

00:04:27.540 there is a choice. And people can make that choice. And we're seeing in the broadcast industry, and this

00:04:34.000 podcast is probably an example, where you are able to get content not offered by the current services.

00:04:40.720 100%. And that gives people the choice of what information or content they want to see or listen

00:04:46.480 to. And I think that's a good thing because it invites more voices into the conversation.

00:04:51.760 There's about 100,000 Canadians that they do share or they do create different videos, especially on

00:04:59.740 YouTube, a day, okay, in general. And then there's 720 hours every day of YouTube broadcasting get created

00:05:08.460 on the internet. Imagine how you're going to control 720 hours, okay, on a daily basis of content. And

00:05:16.820 the 100,000 Canadians, as I said, whether musicians, whether they storytellers, whether they broadcast

00:05:24.700 certain things, or they create certain videos, or certain education material, could be anything.

00:05:30.080 All that, this bill is trying to control. And again, you know, I'm not sure how this is possibly done. And

00:05:42.080 the window to that is the government trying to show that this bill is just a change in the definition

00:05:46.500 of broadcasting, ignoring the fact that, as I said, internet is not a broadcasting, okay? There's two

00:05:55.520 two different things. And they're trying to get into that, trying to sell it or slip it to Canadians

00:06:00.520 under the fact that, no, what we're doing, we're just changing the definition of broadcasting. And

00:06:05.420 that's how dangerous is that mind that we're facing right now in the parliament, as a government,

00:06:11.260 and how Canadians need to be watching what's going on to be able to probably reverse course and make

00:06:17.460 sure that this bill does not pass. Always so innocent the liberals are, just doing it for our own

00:06:21.600 good. That's where we keep being told. Let's bring in another Albertan into the conversation,

00:06:25.120 Rachel Thomas. Thank you very much, Member of Parliament for Lethbridge. Always a pleasure

00:06:28.880 having you on the program as well. You were a fierce critic of Bill C-10 way back when. And we talked

00:06:34.080 about the opportunities that the internet has given to kind of people who just want to put content out.

00:06:39.920 And people have the ability to determine what content they like, right? Like, this is a good thing.

00:06:45.760 Yeah, well, I mean, as my colleague was saying here, you know, with the former Bill C-10, now Bill C-11,

00:06:52.640 being debated on the House of Commons floor, you know, with this piece of legislation,

00:06:56.800 basically the government is saying that they're just simply updating the Broadcasting Act. That's

00:07:00.080 the line that they love to use. So innocent. So innocent. But what they're failing to tell

00:07:04.480 Canadians is actually the Broadcasting Act was created in order to care for radio and television.

00:07:11.280 That's where it was supposed to be applied. That's where it was applied. And the reason for that is

00:07:15.840 because there's a limited number of radio stations. There's a limited number of TV channels.

00:07:20.960 And in order to make sure that French and English both had access to those channels,

00:07:26.400 they determined that they would regulate them. That a certain percentage would be put aside so

00:07:30.720 that French media would be, you know, upheld in this country. Access would be given.

00:07:36.240 To take the Broadcasting Act and apply it to the internet makes absolutely zero sense.

00:07:41.760 The internet is infinite. It's this magical place where if you want a website, you can have a

00:07:45.840 website. If you want to post on YouTube, you can post on YouTube. If you want a TikTok channel,

00:07:49.040 you can start a TikTok channel. Like, it's incredible. Like, imagine the diverse voices that are

00:07:54.400 that are there, that are represented there. In fact, you don't have to imagine. You can just go explore it

00:07:57.760 yourself. That's sure. It's available.

00:07:59.680 And so we don't need big government to step in and regulate this platform. There's not these

00:08:06.320 limitations placed on us anymore. Really, you know, no matter your ethnicity, no matter your

00:08:11.440 race, no matter your religious background, no matter, you know, the language you speak,

00:08:16.400 if you want access to an online platform, you've got it. And so it's amazing because it's drawing

00:08:23.440 people from all sorts of backgrounds and ways of life and people who maybe wouldn't have other means

00:08:28.560 to promote themselves or, you know, to be picked up by a traditional broadcaster.

00:08:33.040 It gives them an opportunity to find a platform and to be able to curate an audience or pursue

00:08:37.520 an audience, I should say, with curated content. And it's remarkable. It's absolutely remarkable.

00:08:42.640 And digital first creators are doing an amazing job here in our country. We should be celebrating

00:08:46.800 them, not punishing them.

00:08:48.000 Absolutely. I often think about people who say, what is good music, right? Good music is whatever you

00:08:53.280 want to listen to. And I think that applies to the internet as well. Good content. I don't know.

00:08:58.320 Whatever it is you think is good content. I think that's the simplest way.

00:09:02.000 90% of what Canadian creators of, whether Spotify or on YouTube, they go outside Canada.

00:09:11.600 Remember that. And that also can be controlled now by this C11. I mean, imagine a Canadian creator, 0.62

00:09:18.880 artist, wants to put something that 90% of the watchers or the people that they cannot see it,

00:09:26.880 are outside Canada. Now, here's the problem. The government wants to regulate further the outcome,

00:09:33.120 the money, the income, the revenue of this too. So they also want to have their hand on this too,

00:09:39.120 regardless, you know, and they, again, I don't know technically how they're going to do that.

00:09:44.320 But again, extra control over everything. And that's what we don't need.

00:09:48.400 Yeah, we totally agree with you on that. I want to read a headline here for Rachel here. 0.53

00:09:54.320 Headline National Post. It was April 5th, 2022. CRTC can regulate the internet and protect free speech,

00:10:02.800 says the CRTC chairperson. That's amazing. So basically, in that article, the CRTC is saying,

00:10:10.640 yes, we can be the ones that watch over the content and let the, you know, save the people from,

00:10:18.400 you know, this harmful content that's out there.

00:10:20.800 Yeah. Isn't it interesting if you actually read that article in full, and I would encourage,

00:10:24.800 you know, audience members to do so, you'll see that, you know, interestingly enough,

00:10:28.960 the CRTC commissioner is very good at parroting liberal talking points. So I wonder just how nonpartisan

00:10:35.200 he'll be when it comes to judging whether or not content should, you know, be bumped up in the queue

00:10:39.680 or be bumped down. And that is exactly what this bill will do. It will determine whether or not

00:10:44.560 a person's content is put on page one when you do a Google search, or if it'll be on page 53.

00:10:50.800 And ultimately, it will be the CRTC that determines that. Now, of course,

00:10:54.880 they'll pass that responsibility down to Google or YouTube or TikTok. But they'll be the enforcers.

00:11:02.320 They'll be the ones to determine those judgments that are made. You know, is it Canadian enough 0.98

00:11:07.360 to stay or does it have to go? Does it make the cut? Does it not? You know, and I wouldn't put it

00:11:11.840 past the CRTC to say, you know, does it promote, does it promote liberal values? Well, if you have a

00:11:17.360 board that's appointed by liberals, usually with liberals, I think you can quickly come to a conclusion

00:11:24.960 as to what content is going to be pushed down and what isn't. Absolutely. Absolutely. I think that's a

00:11:30.000 big part of it. And I think the other thing that needs to be highlighted as well is the fact that

00:11:33.920 the liberals are really trying to promote this bill as something that is going to encourage

00:11:37.920 diversity, right? Of course, the CRTC is going to be interested in putting diverse content out there.

00:11:43.120 And so they're going to make sure that Canadians see all sorts of material that they wouldn't 0.97

00:11:47.200 otherwise search for on their own. So we're going to spoon feed it to them. We're going to force

00:11:51.200 it upon them. We're going to make sure that it ends up in front of the eyeballs of Canadians.

00:11:55.120 Well, I think that's happening organically now, isn't it? But you can get content from all over

00:12:00.320 the world. And it's censorship. It's censorship at its finest. It's going to be the opposite,

00:12:03.520 because I don't know how they can distinguish between a user, another user or broadcaster,

00:12:07.920 another broadcaster. Okay. Every Canadian is under the same threat when it comes to this.

00:12:13.520 That's control of CRTC over their life. I mean, if internet is a democracy, a democratization

00:12:19.920 of thoughts. Okay. There's this one will be the opposite, will be the undemocratic.

00:12:27.200 Someone has to make that decision. Yeah, it's just this is the opposite. And if this is how they

00:12:31.680 can go around this, I believe this is one of the chapters of so many. It's a long list of things.

00:12:39.920 This is one of them to control more and more the life of Canadians. Absolutely. 1.00

00:12:45.120 And let's not forget, this is one, as I said, one chapter of this whole plan. And it's so scary

00:12:51.520 that if we cannot just keep handing out to the government control of our life from finance to

00:12:57.200 banking, to everything we do, to everything we, every penny we spend, every service we get. Now,

00:13:04.000 everything we say or we share or everything we create on internet, I think it's a slipper slope.

00:13:11.040 And it's going to lead to more and more straining the life and constraining the life of Canadians. 0.52

00:13:17.680 And that's something Canadians need to be able to know and understand right away.

00:13:22.720 Absolutely. I, you know, look, there's, there's not, to my knowledge, there's not a single example

00:13:27.680 in history where more government regulation, more government red tape, more government bureaucracy

00:13:33.440 resulted in greater diversity, you know, greater inclusion, greater innovation, greater creativity,

00:13:41.040 greater success of the arts, greater advancement of culture. Like when, when did that ever happen?

00:13:46.560 That's right. It didn't, it didn't happen. And so again, yet another proof point that really this

00:13:51.440 legislation is not about those things as the Liberals would claim, but actually it is about hindering

00:13:56.480 Canadians ability and right to access information that they should want to access.

00:14:01.600 I should say this though too, Jamie, like let's just, let's just call out the elephant in the room

00:14:07.280 right now for two seconds. And that is this. So many people would come back and say, well,

00:14:11.360 but there is some content that you shouldn't watch or that you shouldn't have access to. Yes,

00:14:14.960 absolutely. That's why we have the criminal code to go after that material that is absolutely

00:14:19.520 disgusting in nature and shouldn't exist online. But that's not what this legislation has to do with.

00:14:24.560 So let's talk about the topic at hand, which ultimately C11 is about censorship. It's about

00:14:29.360 controlling the content that Canadians do and do not have access to.

00:14:32.880 Well, if the government was so good at regulating things and managing things,

00:14:36.880 why don't we give them control of the music industry? What do you think would happen if

00:14:40.720 the government had control? Seriously, they'd determine what length of the song, what key,

00:14:46.800 you know, don't, don't get yourself. This is a step in the direction.

00:14:50.640 Like think about it. And if we started the, the line at when the country was formed,

00:14:54.960 we'd probably still be listening to chamber music for crying out loud. Like we would not have the

00:14:58.960 evolution of music where we had the blues, hip hop, jazz, rock and roll, like all of that would

00:15:04.160 never happen because you'd have some bureaucrat determining what music is, what good content is.

00:15:09.520 And you would never have that evolution of music that we have now.

00:15:13.600 That's the passion of liberal governments. Okay. They say something and they do the opposite.

00:15:20.400 And it's just insinuation and what we call it, uh, we, we call it, uh, signaling, uh,

00:15:27.040 virtue signaling of some kind, uh, where they, they, they probably think that Canadian can miss the point

00:15:33.440 on what this bill all about. Uh, I tell you on, on a C10, which is the bill that was before this one,

00:15:39.440 and this is just a return to C10. The amount of calls that I've received from university students

00:15:45.360 was unheard of in Edmonton Manning. Okay. They all were worried about this, the C10 and, and they

00:15:51.280 will be worried about the C11. Now the government trying to dress or window dress this differently,

00:15:56.640 um, in a way that just to try to sell it. Um, and I hope that, uh, they won't get that support,

00:16:02.720 the support of, of the NTP on this one, which is, I don't think, um, uh, I don't think that I'm,

00:16:09.120 I'm dreaming too much. But, um, uh, something that to, uh, to really be very, very worried about,

00:16:16.080 um, uh, an extra power grab by the government that we don't need and enough is enough. You know,

00:16:23.280 that's why we have to, uh, we have to expose it, uh, to Canadian in, in all the powers we have. 0.51

00:16:30.320 Well, I personally think there's too much involvement of the government in our media as it is.

00:16:34.880 A billion dollars to the CBC, 600 million dollars to the parliamentary press gallery,

00:16:39.520 and now potentially the regulation of the internet. This is too much, too much.

00:16:44.880 Yeah, absolutely. And, and I think I'll just, you know, add another point here as well,

00:16:48.320 because we're talking about diversity and you made a great example with music. Um,

00:16:52.560 you know, let's, let's also point out the fact, if we may, because it's rather inconvenient for the

00:16:56.800 liberals and certainly for the CRTC. And that is this, the CRTC is going to be the governing body that

00:17:01.680 is responsible for protecting and enhancing diversity under this legislation. Um, let's look

00:17:07.520 at the CRTC executive, shall we? It is composed primarily of white people. Where's your diversity?

00:17:15.440 So this is the same body that is going to be responsible for policing diversity online. Well,

00:17:21.040 I've seen their definition of diversity and quite frankly, it doesn't measure up. It's lacking.

00:17:26.880 And so if that's what Canadians can expect more of, well, this is a massive failure.

00:17:32.240 Yeah. At that point, it's pre-approved content, right? It's what the bureaucrats believe

00:17:36.160 people should be seeing. And that, that's just a very dark and dangerous place. But, um, let's, uh,

00:17:42.240 wrap up to, uh, final thoughts. As you both know, the, the guests have the final word,

00:17:46.480 and then we got to get over to question period. So, uh, Ziad, why don't you go first? You get the last word.

00:17:50.560 Well, final thought Canadians, uh, need, uh, to be, uh, to awake, to be awake, more awake to, to,

00:17:56.480 to this, uh, dangerous, dangerous bill. Uh, it's a direct attack on, uh, free speech,

00:18:03.680 and, um, the, uh, uh, the freedom of Canadian in general, because free speech is one of the,

00:18:09.520 the main, uh, element in, in our charter. And, uh, we have to be able to fight this, uh, because,

00:18:15.920 uh, again, this is another step to, uh, enter and, and interfere in the life of Canadians 0.79

00:18:23.600 that, uh, we don't need. And it's a slippery slope that we need to watch. Rachel.

00:18:27.920 Yeah. You know, as, as my friend Ziad said just, uh, just moments ago, you know, I, I think ultimately

00:18:34.400 our goal as conservatives is to fight for freedom, to make sure that Canadians are able to act as

00:18:41.040 independent people making decisions of their own accord. And the internet is this amazingly innovative

00:18:47.360 place, and it is arguably the new public square. And so we need to do all that we can to keep it as

00:18:53.680 a space where free speech can be engaged in. And free speech goes a couple of ways. Yes, it's the

00:18:59.680 content that's put out there. We have the right to do that, but it is also the fact that that content

00:19:04.160 has the right to be heard or seen or, you know, and so it, it, it's, it's all of that. And I think

00:19:10.560 this bill is a, is a direct attack on that. And, and furthermore, you know, not only for the

00:19:16.240 viewer, but also for the creators in this country, we have amazing artists, amazing, amazing artists

00:19:22.640 who have gone out there, taken risks, invested capital and made a go of it. You know, many of

00:19:27.440 them were rejected by traditional broadcasters and they said, well, okay. And they picked up their

00:19:31.760 boots. That's right. They pulled up their boots and they went to a platform like YouTube or TikTok or

00:19:36.480 Instagram and they got going on their own out of their own volition, their own hard work,

00:19:41.360 their own ingenuity, their own creativity, their own entrepreneurial spirit. That's how they succeeded.

00:19:47.360 And now the government wants to come along and punish them for their success because how dare they

00:19:52.880 make a go of it without traditional broadcasters? Outside the, the people already making the decisions,

00:19:56.880 right? And let's remember 90% of what they create, they, they sell outside Canada.

00:20:02.480 Absolutely. It's amazing. Okay. So how can you control that 90% for people who's choosing 0.96

00:20:07.680 outside Canada, right? To, to use it, to enjoy it, or to buy it? The government will build a wall and

00:20:14.640 they will crush them. And that's, uh, that's the fence that, uh, I talked about six years ago that,

00:20:19.440 the liberal and NDP wants to put around the country with two gates, one on the east coast,

00:20:23.440 one on the west coast to close down Canada. This is one of those, those steps toward that. Yeah.

00:20:27.920 Absolutely. In a free nation, the, the guns are pointed outwards and a socialist and communist

00:20:32.960 country, they're pointed inwards, but I appreciate the time. Ziad Abuchayev, member of parliament for

00:20:37.280 Edmonton Manning. Also Rachel Thomas, a good friend of the show as well, member of parliament for

00:20:41.520 Lethbridge. We appreciate this conversation. It's very important, especially when we're talking about

00:20:46.160 liking, comment, share, subscribe to this program, because this is usually content you're not getting

00:20:51.760 from the mainstream media. We pretty much guarantee that. And with the censorship bill potentially coming down

00:20:57.040 the tracks, uh, we need to get conservative voices outside. So they, we do appreciate you doing that

00:21:02.000 with new content every single Tuesday, 1 30 PM Eastern time. It's also available on platforms like

00:21:07.200 CastBox, iTunes, Google play, and Spotify. We hope you download it, listen to it at your convenience.

00:21:12.160 Again, low taxes, less government, more freedom. That is the blueprint.

The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - April 05, 2022

Government Censorship

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