UPDATED: Conservatives reject new C-10 charter statement

The Conservative Party Thursday accused the Liberals of “trying to hide behind a smoke screen,” calling the Justice Minister David Lametti’s new charter statement on Bill C-10, a revision to the Broadcasting Act, nothing more than a letter. “Although the Liberals are attempting to pass the Justice Minister’s recently released letter as a charter statement, it is not,” Conservative MP Rachael Harder wrote to the Wire Report in an email when asked if the Conservatives accepted the new charter analysis. According to the Department of Justice’s new charter statement, bringing social media platforms under regulation in Bill C-10 will not infringe everyday users’ rights freedom of speech or expression. Last month, during its clause-by-clause review of the bill, the House of Commons’ Heritage committee voted to remove an exemption -- Clause 3, Section 4.1 -- for user generated content, effectively bringing social media platforms under CRTC regulation. The Conservative government raised concern that the move would infringe on freedom of expression. According to the Department of Justice's charter statement released Thursday, a separate exemption in the bill, Clause 1, section 2.1, means that “unaffiliated users of social media services would not be subject to broadcasting regulation in respect of the programs they post,” and therefore, the bill does not infringe on individual freedom of expression, according to the statement. “The objectives of the bill in updating the commission’s regulatory powers and providing new powers applicable to online services remain. The bill maintains the commission’s role and flexibility in determining what, if any, regulatory requirements to impose on broadcasting undertakings,” the statement continues. “The commission is subject to the charter, and must therefore exercise any discretionary powers it has in a manner that is consistent with the charter.” The Department of Justice Act requires its minister to prepare a charter analysis for every government bill to help inform debate. One was tabled on November 18, 2020, with respect to Bill C-10. “The justice minister’s initial charter statement from November 18, 2020 is still on the Department of Justice’s website, which cites Clause 3 of Bill C-10 as grounds for charter compliance. That section is no longer in the bill because it was removed by the Liberals,” Harder wrote. Harder added that “not only does it appear that the justice minister is refusing to issue a new charter statement to ensure that the bill is charter compliant, but he is also refusing to appear before the Canadian Heritage Committee.” The Heritage Committee is set to hear Lametti and Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault this coming Friday as well as an expert panel on Monday, after it passed a motion to pause work on the bill until it received the new charter statement and until it hears from its experts. Lametti did not respond to a request for comment by publication. NDP MP Heather McPherson told the Wire Report through email that her party “welcomes today’s analysis of the charter statement” but will “wait to receive more information from the ministers before making a final decision on the bill.” “I have looked over the charter review and I'm looking forward to questioning the Ministers on Friday, to ensure that we are both protecting freedom of expression and net neutrality,” she stated. The new charter statement also noted that amendments were tabled (but not yet voted on) which would further limit the regulator powers of the CRTC to financial contributions and discoverability requirements. Last week, Liberal MP Julie Dabrusin tabled amendments to the bill, on behalf of the government, that would restrict the CRTC regulations to discoverability requirements (noting in a press conference that there would be no set quotas) and to financial contributions from the social media platforms. Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-Commerce Law at Ottawa University, said the amendments help in providing some limitations to the CRTC, it is not enough to protect everyday user’s content. “The ability to regulate the discoverability of , raises the prospect of the CRTC approving or dictating the content of feeds in services such as TikTok and Youtube. Canada would be a global outlier in this regard as no country - not even the European Union which has extensive online video regulations - has taken that approach,” Geist told the Wire Report via email. Geist also said that bringing social media platforms under the act to get financial contributions is too high a price to pay “Given the cost to freedom of expression. The first priority should be to safeguard freedom of expression by restoring full exceptions for both users and their content.” Former CRTC chair Peter Menzies said Thursday that “ultimately the courts will have to rule on over the years” on whose speech is given preference over the internet “because there is absolutely no question that both the Broadcasting Act as written, as amended and the draft Order in Council all specify that the CRTC will have to make decisions governing who gets to say what and at what volume on the Internet.” “They've been doing it for decades and the legislation that governs them insists that they will be trying to do it on the Internet. If Bill C-10 goes forward it definitely means the end to the decade of prosperity the industry was enjoying,” he stated to the Wire Report through email. -- Reporting by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca and editing by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca

UPDATED: Conservatives reject new C-10 charter statement

News | 05/13/2021 2:21 pm EDT

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