Trudeau’s Attack on Free Speech
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Summary
In this episode, we are joined by Rachel Harder, the Shadow Minister for Digital Government, to discuss Bill C-10, the bill to modernize the Broadcasting Act, which could have a big impact on Canadian artists and content creators.
Transcript
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Hello and welcome once again to the Blueprints. This is Canada's Conservative Podcast. I'm your
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host, Jamie Schmael, member of Parliament from Halliburton for the Lakes Brock with new content
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for you every single Tuesday, 1.30 p.m. Eastern Time. With content like this, we ask that you
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like, comment, subscribe, share this program, help us push back against the ever-moving liberal
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agenda. And of course, if you can't watch or listen to it all right now, you can download
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it later on in platforms like CastBox, iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, you name it, it is out
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there. Another important guest we're going to have on today, backed by popular demand, although
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the topic isn't so awesome, Rachel Harder, the Member of Parliament from Lethbridge, Alberta.
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She's also the Shadow Minister for Digital Government. We are glad to have her back. I know last time
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we said we'll have her back. Sadly, it's not good why we're having her back. It's Bill C-10,
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of course, the Act to Amend the Broadcasting Act, which has some problems. The advocates are saying
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it supports artists and music providers. Other side says this could take us down a deep and dark,
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dangerous path. Rachel Harder, why don't you basically give us a recap of what Bill C-10
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is, how we got here, and where we are now? Sure thing, Jamie. Thank you again for having me back
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and giving me the opportunity to bring people up to speed. Here's the deal. Bill C-10 has to do with
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quote-unquote modernizing the Broadcasting Act, which of course is an act from, you know, the 1980s,
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and it had everything to do with controlling the airwaves and making sure that limited access to
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airwaves was divvied out in some form of equal, with some form of equal measure. Now that act is going
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to be applied to the internet. So basically, this is the government applying a big hand in terms of
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regulation with regards to the internet. In this bill, what has happened is there was originally a
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clause that protected individuals and the content that they posted. So the things that you post or
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your uncle posts to YouTube or Facebook or Spotify or TikTok, things like that. And so those things would
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be posted and they would be protected under the original legislation. However, that clause that
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offered that protection has since been removed. That happened a number of weeks ago. When that clause
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was removed, it put people in danger. It put people in danger of a couple of things. One, free speech
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being infringed upon because now your content is going to be censored. So some videos that you post are
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going to be allowed, some are not. In terms of artists who are using platforms like YouTube in
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order to generate an audience and garner huge success, they're going to be moved up and down
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in terms of the queue. So what the government has said is that they want to show favoritism or give
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promotion to those who are, quote, Canadian artists or those who are generating Canadian cultural content.
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And so the government is somehow through the CRTC going to regulate, you know, what counts and what
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doesn't and give preference to that which, quote, unquote, counts. The problem with this, of course,
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is a couple. One, you know, it's really unclear in terms of what exactly counts as Canadian content.
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I mean, right now, under the current definition, you could have a Canadian filming in Canada, talking
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about Canada and promoting themselves to a Canadian audience, and they still wouldn't necessarily make the
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cut. So that's a huge problem is this definition. And then the other problem is, you know, you're
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going to have some artists who are able to make a go of it on their own, and who would, you know,
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skyrocket in terms of their publicity. Now the government all of a sudden is going to say,
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oh, no, you don't. You don't make the you don't make the cut, you don't fit the metrics. And so then
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they get a demotion, you know, and so then you have these artists who actually would be hugely
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successful, but the government's actually going to, to hold them back. And that's a huge problem.
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In today's day and age, I think artists of all kind have a platform to reach whatever audience
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basically they want. And we're not just talking domestic, we're talking internationally as well.
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So if, if artists have this ability to reach a wide audience with their content, in this case, wouldn't
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you say the free market would prevail because people will pay or watch what content they like,
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they will pass on what they don't? Why does the government need to get involved in this?
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Yeah, exactly. And it's a great question. And you know what the truth is, Jamie, the government
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doesn't need to get involved. And, you know, I've had the opportunity to reach out to successful
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YouTubers and individuals who, who are making a tremendous go of it. And they're telling me,
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we don't want government regulation. We don't want the big hand of government interfering in this.
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We actually want the government to get out of the way. They've learned how to function within
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the platforms that are available to them online in order to organically grow an audience and become
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very successful. So for example, Jamie, you know, Justin Bieber is one of these individuals,
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he was a kid posting music to YouTube, you know, and starting in about 2013, he kind of started to
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garner some publicity. And it just kept growing. And you know, here's a Canadian artist who has
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shown himself to be noteworthy in terms of the music content that he's able to generate. And as a
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result, Canadians watch him, and then they recommend that other people watch him and then he grows. And
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now, of course, he's become, you know, a sensation. And we're very proud of him and the success that
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he's garnered for himself. There are others who are coming up right now. And Jamie, I think it's
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important to notice that, you know, successful artists over the last decade have come up through
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platforms, they don't come up through government grant programs, they don't come up, you know,
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because of handouts, they come up because they've learned to function within the free market, they
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have learned to function within this thing called the internet, they have learned to use these platforms
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such as TikTok and YouTube, etc, in order to put their skill or their talent out there. And then again,
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elicit an audience. Jamie, it might be of interest to those who are watching, you know, I recently
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learned that within YouTube, there are 25,000 Canadians who are able to generate a full-time
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income for themselves of about $100,000 or more. So that's 25,000 Canadians that are potentially going
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to be impacted in a really negative way by this legislation. Of course, there's far more than that,
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but that's 25,000 that count on it as a full-time income. So if this passes, you could have
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theoretically, some unelected bureaucrats at the CRTC deciding what content is to be supported and what
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is to be demoted. But again, this isn't about this, we're not having freedom, the talk about freedom
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here. Because say I like, say, I'll say jazz music, and you like, I don't know, hip-hop.
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Everyone's different. To have a bureaucrat to say, no, we're only going to allow country music or allow
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country music to be promoted, you're not actually getting what you want, you're getting what somebody
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else wants. And this, I think, is the fundamental principle of this. Everyone is different, everyone
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should have the choice and the freedom to make those decisions. Yeah, and that's exactly it. And so
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what the government would respond, you know, to that with is they would say, well, you know,
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YouTube and TikTok and Facebook, like they already use algorithms in order to direct content your way.
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And so now they're just saying these algorithms are going to be government regulated rather than
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controlled by the individual platforms. That might look like an okay argument up front. But here's
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the problem. When I go into an art exhibit that is owned by a private curator, I expect them to curate
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that art according to their desire. So some art is going to be higher on the wall, some lower, some is
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going to be toward the front of the center, some is going to be in the back, some rooms are going to be
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larger and more, you know, prominent. And then other rooms are going to be smaller. And so artists
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are going to be given different places within this art exhibit. But I expect that as the person who's
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paying to go into this private art exhibit, I want it to be curated for me. And I enjoy it within those
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parameters. What I don't want is for the government to step in and now tell this curator how they need to
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hang the art and where they need to hang the art and which artists they need to give priority to.
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And that is exactly what is happening on the internet is right now, yes, YouTube uses algorithms,
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TikTok uses algorithms, Facebook uses algorithms, they use them in order to give me more of what I
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want. They look at the things that I'm viewing and where my interests lie, and they give me more of
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that. What the government is going to do is they're going to step in and instead of giving you more of
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what you want, they're going to give you more of what they want you to see. So you want to look at
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pictures of, you know, model airplanes from the 1950s, they want you to watch basket weaving. So
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all of a sudden, your screen starts getting filled with videos on basket weaving. Well, you don't want
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that. So then Jimmy, what ends up happening is you watch the video for two seconds, and then and then you
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turn it off. Or maybe you give it a bad rating because you're like, dang, I don't want more of that.
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Like who's giving me basket weaving. So then by doing that, you're actually hurting those artists,
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you're hurting those individuals who are trying to promote basket weaving. The reality is, if basket
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weaving clips went to those who already like basket weaving clips, those artists would continue to
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naturally move up in the queue. The government by stepping in is actually hurting the artists that
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they're claiming to help. And it's it's incredibly detrimental. And I think that can be said for any
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industry. When the government decides something, it pushes down the competition and picks winners and
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losers in the marketplace. I'm sure if if the government had an ever more footprint in the
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telecom industry, we'd still be on Blackberries and not be using developments that we've seen
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through iPhone and and and other such platforms. But that's because the market is adapting to the
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changing behavior, the wants and needs of the actual consumer. And everyone is different.
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Personally, I like my Blackberry. I like the the keyboard. But again, as you said, with with the
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artists, this is important because you need artistic freedom that that creation element that allows the
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artists to to put their their wares out their content. And then for the market to decide whether they
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like it or not. And that would have maximum ability for artists of all kinds to put their work on
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display. If you're right, if the government does it, you will get what the government wants you to
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see what the government wants you to have. And that's it. That is not freedom.
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And that's exactly it, Jamie. And and this is, you know, this is what the artists are saying.
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When I talk to, you know, creators, when I talk to those individuals who are using these platforms
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successfully, they're saying to me, Rachel, we just we want freedom. We want to be left alone. We want
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to be allowed to function within the realm that we're currently playing in. And, and we can do it
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on our own. We don't want the government to intervene. But, you know, Jamie, I think one of the important
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things to acknowledge here is really what's happened is the government has been lobbied hard by a very
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small coalition of artists who, you know, I believe in many ways are stuck in the 1980s. They just
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unfortunately haven't been able to make it in in in today's modern sphere and using these platforms.
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Look, their art might be great, but they've they've got to figure it out. They've got to adapt. They've
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got to be creative and innovative and they have to move forward with the times. But for them to lobby
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the government and ask for the government to apply a big hand and pull some artists back,
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in order to help this little niche group move forward, it's wrong. It's absolutely wrong. And
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so this that is exactly what this government legislation is all about. It's about showing
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favoritism to a few elite artists who just simply cannot make a go of it today. And and so they're
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asking for the government support and the government's giving it to them. And it's very sad because it's
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to the detriment of of thousands, if not tens of thousands of artists who otherwise would be able
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to make a go of it on their own. And I think this also relates to this, the freedom of speech that
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we hear have here in Canada. This would actually regulate that as well, because content that the
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government is not particularly fond of could get demoted in terms of its reach. The the content that
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goes against the government narrative could get demoted content that is deemed, you know,
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against what the government believes could be demoted. And we know what path takes that takes
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us down. And it's not a very good one when anything that that opposes the government is deemed offensive
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And that's exactly it is really, you know, this is attack. This is an attack on on freedom of speech,
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because some content will be moved up in the queue, some content will be demoted. The government is,
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in fact, picking winners and losers. And so in doing that, they are they are censoring,
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they are censoring not only what you post, and whether or not others have access to it,
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but they are also censoring what you can or cannot see. Again, you know, I would argue that that is a
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direct infringement upon Section 2B of the Charter, which gives us the right to freedom of expression,
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freedom of belief, freedom of opinion. And so we exercise that right within
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what I would call the new public square, which, of course, is online and largely on social media
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platforms. So by the government intervening, they really are coming against our freedom as Canadians.
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All right, we don't have much time left. Where is the bill now? What's going to happen next?
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Yeah, so the bill is that committee, and we're doing something called clause by clause,
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which is where we're going through it line by line and determining what gets to stay and what has to go.
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And so conservatives are fighting hard to bring forward some amendments that would offer protection
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for individuals and for their content, in order to alleviate some of the concerns I've outlined
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here today. You know, we're hopeful that that we'll be successful, but we need the support of
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the block and the NDP in order to move our amendments forward. And, and that that can be a challenge for
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sure. But we're going to continue to fight. You know, the routine, I always give the guests the
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final word here. So maybe in your final words, say your piece, we have freedom of expression here on
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this show. But also maybe, if you could maybe fill people in on what they can do to help kind of slow
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this, stop this, anything they can do. Yeah, I think the bottom line is this, this legislation
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does attack the free speech that Canadians enjoy day in and day out within, you know, the public sphere.
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And it is going to crush the voices of creators, which is detrimental. This is one of the most
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regressive bills that many creators have ever seen. And so they're, they're very fearful in terms of
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what this means for them as artists going forward. I would invite Canadians to reach out and to write
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a letter or an email or make a phone call to Minister Gibbo, the heritage minister, and make their voices
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The one and only Rachel Harder, member of parliament from Lethbridge, Alberta, also the shadow minister for
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digital government. We do appreciate her coming on the show. Again, I didn't think it'd be so close,
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but this is a very important topic. But it's always great to have her because her points are so
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solid. How could you disagree with one and only Rachel Harder? So we appreciate her coming on the
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show. We'll have her back again. Of course, new content every single Tuesday, 1.30pm Eastern Time,
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like, comment, share, subscribe to this program, help us push back, push back against the ever moving
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liberal agenda. And of course, if you can't watch this program in its entirety right now, download it,
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listen to it later on, maybe even show it to your friends, have them have a listen on platforms like
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CastBox, iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, you name it, it is out there. Thank you so much for joining us.
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We'll see you again next week. Until then, remember, low taxes, less government, more freedom. That