Bambi is much interested by Bill C-11 because it can be used for online censorship by a government that is becoming increasingly authoritarian in a society where cancel culture stories, whether self-imposed or external, are spreading like mushrooms. The recent history of this blog is just one of them.
First, what is Bill C-11? According to the Parliament of Canada website, it is “an Act to amend the Broadcasting Act and to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts” (https://bit.ly/3ZBCDP0).
Of note, the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms has been warning us about the potential slippery slope of Bill C-11 since May 24, 2022 (https://bit.ly/40LLOxk). According to the latter, “the Online Streaming Act (OSA) is a significant and dangerous first step towards government control of the internet. The stated purpose of the OSA is not particularly controversial“: Indeed who is against bringing the “influential streaming services like Netflix, Disney, and Spotify under the authority of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)”?
According to the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (https://bit.ly/40LLOxk), “the OSA would give the CRTC new powers to regulate virtually any online streaming service, also known as a “platform.” It would also regulate audio or audiovisual content accessible in Canada on such a platform“.
Perhaps the most worrisome part of this bill is that “sections of the OSA create loopholes that would leave space for CRTC to regulate podcasts and videos“. Indeed, Law professor Michael Geist (University of Ottawa) has argued that the CRTC can “regulate everything“, that is “from podcasts to TikTok videos as a “program” (https://bit.ly/40LLOxk).
Bearing the above in mind, Bambi has been keeping an eye on the tweets of Mr. Yves-François Blanchet for a while now to check his reactions to this bill. In her mind, he is a decent politician, whether we see the relevance of his party in Ottawa or not. Indeed, his is a great defender of Québec’s interests at the federal level. Ironically, many provinces/territories can at times benefit from his positions (sometimes not, of course).
As shown at the bottom of this post, and as you can see in Bambi’s quick translation of his public words, Mr. Blanchet does not seem to be impressed by the Conservative Party of Canada‘s criticisms of Bill C-11. Indeed, he is too driven by the cultural interests of Québec (good for the latter!) to the point of accusing the official opposition party of what looks like unfair intentions toward Québec.
Once again, Mr. Trudeau’s minority government has the NDP party to back it, to keep it in power, and to pass potentially controversial acts like Bill C-11. With the latter, the feds seem to have the moral sympathy and support of Mr. Blanchet and his great team, including Mr. Jean-Denis Gagnon (Mirabel, QC) who recently challenged a colleague from the Conservative Party of Canada to name three of the most famous francophone artists of Québec :). Seriously, his idea was to know if they truly know the culture of Québec that they pretend to defend and love.
However, with all due respect to Québec’s most beautiful culture [Bambi has been teased as being “an Ambassador” of her original province. Hello Fred :)], Bambi is convinced that online freedom of expression deserves to be vigorously defended, in our two official languages, ACROSS Canada. This being said, to really know if there would be practical excesses or abuses of Bill C-11, one must live long enough. To be continued…
