Guest post by Cullen Linebarger
Since becoming Canada’s Prime Minister in 2015, Trudeau has embarked on a vigorous assault against Canadian citizens’ most cherished liberties to the point the nation is barely recognizable. Now he and his ruling Liberal Party will soon deliver the final blow with a piece of legislation his late family friend Fidel Castro would have loved.
The bill, known as the Online Streaming Act (Bill C-11), would require major international technology companies that conduct business in Canada to subsidize local Canadian content. Viewers would essentially be forced to view material online promoted by Big Brother regardless of their personal desires. Conservatives who want to view a Fox News video on YouTube, for example, also might have to view content by the far-left Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC).
The legislation also expands the authority of the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to regulate the internet in addition to phones, radio, and television. The CRTC is made up of nine unelected bureaucrats appointed by Trudeau who already displayed their illiberal nature earlier this year when they revoked Russian Television’s broadcasting license at the request of the prime minister. The bureaucrats would be able to remove content online from prominent places where millions of Canadians rely on for their news such as TikTok, Facebook and YouTube. Conservative Canadian websites such as the Rebel and Canada Free Press would almost certainly find their content censored on those websites by government authorities given how much they have criticized Trudeau.
C-11 passed the Canadian House of Commons in June and just passed a second reading in the Senate. The legislation’s final passage may only be a few days away.
Here are the stakes for democracy courtesy of The Trumpet:
C-11 could create the most authoritarian regulatory framework of any democracy in the world. This makes it a grave threat to overall freedom of expression in Canada. Nearly as reprehensible as the implications of the legislation itself are the tangled thicket of unclear or self-contradictory language within the bill and the evident insincerity and misdirection in the government’s public promotion of C-11. In short, the Liberals are attempting a colossal power grab while pretending they aren’t.
There is absolutely no difference between what the Liberals are proposing with C-11 and what communist nations such as Cuba and Venezuela have already done to silence the opposition. One could even argue Trudeau drew inspiration from Castro’s tyrannical regime and thought Canada would perform better as a leftist dictatorship. He has shown his red colors time and again.
George Orwell warned us of the dangers of totalitarianism long ago in his legendary novel 1984. Time is running out before liberty dies in Canada with thunderous applause.