Members of the Liberal Party, New Democratic Party (NDP), and Bloc Quebecois rejected a Bill C-10 amendment proposed by the Conservative Party of Canada that would have exempted user-generated content from the bill’s online speech suppression powers. The vote was cast during Monday’s Heritage Committee meeting.
Bloc and NDP legislators have expressed support for the bill, meaning the controversial internet censorship bill is highly likely to pass. Still, Conservative legislators are keen on ensuring the bill does not become law without an exception being created for user-generated content.
Legislators appear to be ignoring all the complaints and criticism of the bill from the public.
Former chairman of the CTRC, the regulator that will oversee online platforms once the bill passes, Peter Menzies has condemned the bill, warning it is “an assault on Canadian’s freedoms.”
Last week, a group of experts in the tech industry, wrote an open letter to Trudeau, urging him to “stop harming the Internet, and the freedoms and aspirations of every individual in this country, and our knowledge economy through overreaching regulatory policies that will have significant, yet unintended consequences for the free and open internet in Canada.”
