Liberal Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault had yet another disastrous appearance where he attempted to explain his controversial internet censorship bill.
Guilbeault met with the Heritage Committee of Friday after the committee agreed in an 11-0 vote that his bill needed to be explained in further detail, and would be put on hold to do so.
This stemmed from concerns that the minister's bill would violate Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms, specifically the freedom of expression that the document guarantees in Section 2.
The bill has lead to wide discussion about what changes—if any—Canadian media needs to be regulated to better benefit the country's populace. While the Conservatives have argued that Guilbeault's bill is beyond reparation, some members of the NDP have argued that some legislation would help.
New Democrat MP Heather McPherson took Guilbeault to task over this, noting that even experts felt as though Guilbeault's bill was concerning. McPherson criticized Guilbeault for attacking those criticizing the bill, to which she said that it felt that Guilbeault was attempting to "divide Canadians" on the issue.
“It feels very much like you’re trying to divide Canadians on this issue”: NDP’s Heather McPherson picks Guilbeault’s media regulation bill apart.
— Roberto Wakerell-Cruz ?? (@Robertopedia) May 14, 2021
The Minister seems clueless, again. What’s with this guy? pic.twitter.com/qoQYbvHF6P
Guilbeault responded by saying that he would "beg to differ," citing a number of organizations that say that they support the bill. What Guilbeault fails to mention, however, is that a number of those organizations—at least four—are funded by the Department of Heritage.
True North reports that the Professional Music Publishers Association of Canada received $10,631 by Guilbeault's department as recently as March of this year.
Another group, the Quebec English Language Production Council via the Quebec Community Groups Network, was given over $5,000,000 from Heritage Canada between 2017 and 2019.
The bill has been widely criticized by the Conservative Party, and by former CRTC vice-chair Peter Menzies, who says the bill would "impose itself on the free expression rights of Canadians by making their posts subject to government oversight."
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