Erin O'Toole's platform will not advance Trudeau censorship bills C-10 or C-36

With the writ dropped, Erin O’Toole confirmed that a Conservative government would scrap controversial Bills C-10 and C-36. The federal government’s legislation significantly expands the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s (CRTC) mandate to include online publishers and social media users.

The Conservative Party of Canada clarified in its 2021 platform that Bill C-10 "gives too much power to regulators while failing to provide businesses with the clear guidelines they need to operate." While the Conservative Party of Canada said the CRTC mandate needs an update, they said their plan would not target Canadian publishers or social media users, reported True North.

Senator David Richards compared Bill C-10 to book burnings, saying that the controversial censorship bill didn't just need to be amendments, but that it instead needed a "stake through the heart."

"I did not sign this pledge and I will not read," said Richards. "This sanctimony is the hidden foundation of this bill, I think, and the hidden foundation of many bills that have come to this chamber."

Bill C-10 aims to give the CRTC overwhelming new powers, something that former vice-chair of the CRTC Peter Menzies called a violation of the rights of ordinary citizens.

The platform added that the party would not prosecute online hate speech either, as Bill C-36 proposed. A Conservative government would not use human rights tribunals to prosecute hate speech. Rather, it would use the criminal justice system and the threshold set by the high criminal code for hate speech.

Bill C-36 An Act To Amend The Criminal Code threatens house arrest or $70,000 fines for any internet publisher, blogger or social media user suspected of posting hateful content without incitement of any crime. Cabinet introduced the bill June 23 just minutes before Parliament adjourned for a three-month recess.

The controversial piece of legislation will "see more things through to charges," said Corporal Anthony Statham of RCMP’s British Columbia Hate Crimes Team: "Law enforcement has to have the ability to use the law effectively."

"In Canada we don’t have anything regulating speech," said Statham, who adds that "Under section two of our Charter Of Rights our freedom of expression is protected." He said there is no such thing as free speech in Canada, "only freedom of expression."

"Free speech, freedom of expression, and a free press are fundamental tenets of Canadian law and Canadian democracy," reads the platform. "We will oppose government censorship of material that is not criminal in nature merely because some may find it to be offensive."

The Conservatives are not likely to advance the federal government’s planned Digital Safety Commission either, which enforces speech regulations against social media companies.