Some conservative intellectuals said the Canadian government should not proceed with Bill C-11 and C-18 because they could harm freedom of expression. .“At the end of the day, C-11 is a censorship bill,” said Conservative Sen. Leo Housakos (Quebec) at a Wednesday panel at the Canada Strong and Free Network (CSFN) National Conference. .“Modern digital platforms today are not broadcasters.” .Bill C-11 would permit the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to regulate commercial internet programming, such as YouTube videos. There are concerns over ambiguous language in it and how it defines user-generated content. .Bill C-18 would force technology giants to pay news outlets for distributing stories. This bill is viewed as problematic because of ambiguous language and how Google and Facebook threatened to shut off news sharing if it passes. .Housakos said he's disappointed the House of Commons rejected most of the Senate’s amendments to Bill C-11. He vowed to fight it to the end. .The Senate Transport and Communications Committee rewrote cabinet’s latest attempt at regulating internet content in November. .READ MORE: Senators start to rewrite Bill C-11.“There are numerous sources of uncertainty related to this bill,” said Conservative Sen. Denise Batters (Saskatchewan). .“Some of them are fundamental.”.Prominent Canadian political commentator Aaron Gunn said Bill C-11 is about “controlling what people think by controlling what they see.” .“Most people are going to watch what comes up on their Facebook news feed or on their YouTube recommended videos or YouTube indexed search results,” said Gunn. .Gunn said the Canadian government wants its hands on the algorithms. He added it's trying to reestablish the gatekeepers who existed before the internet. .Many people watch conservative content such as the Ben Shapiro Show and the Joe Rogan Experience. He said Bill C-11 will bury this content because it is American. .Housakos said Bill C-18 is a shakedown of digital platforms. He called it “another failed attempt of Justin Trudeau to finance failing business models.” .He said it is not incumbent on taxpayers and businesses to support failing business models. This goes against the freedom Canada is about. .National Council of Canadian Muslims advocacy officer Rizwan Mohammad said Muslims have been used as political football since 9/11. .“They’re concerned about faith, family, and freedom,” said Mohammad. .Mohammad said Muslims feel they have no voice and were not consulted about the bills. He acknowledged Muslims oppose the bill because it goes against their conservative values. .The advocacy officer went on to say books should respond to books. He spoke about how the counter-speech program Facebook set up would be more effective at stopping hate speech than censorship. .Housakos said news outlets should not require Facebook to make money. There are those who have been successful with paywalls. .He compared Bill C-18 to jumping in an Uber and going to a restaurant. The restaurant owner would receive a portion of the fare for the person taking the trip. .Gunn said the legacy media is stacked up behind these bills. He admitted it is tough to communicate about them because people are worried about inflation and the cost of living. .He agrees with Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre there is no important issue than free speech. Without free speech, all other issues are irrelevant. .Housakos predicted there will be Charter challenges to the bills. He said they pose an existential threat. .While the bills are concerning, he said this is part and parcel of who Trudeau is..Housakos concluded by saying the bills were designed to be non-prescriptive on purpose. .“Any time the Justin Trudeau government says trust us, people should ask questions,” he said. .Google said on February 22 it would be blocking select Canadian users from viewing news as a test run to C-18. .READ MORE: Google to block some Canadians from seeing online news over Bill C-18.It would limit access to news content for under 4% of its Canadian users while it assesses possible responses to the bill. The change applies to its search engine and the Discover feature on Android devices which carries news and sports stories..Google said the test will run for five weeks.
