Twenty-five New Democrat MPs will pressure cabinet for legislation this year to regulate legal internet content, according to leader Jagmeet Singh. Regulations should include censoring “misinformation,” he said.
“The Liberal government has not done the job of making sure platforms are following the rules around making sure hate and misinformation are not being spread,” Singh told reporters. “That puts the responsibility back on the government to do what it should be doing. We are going to continue to pressure the government to do this.”
“The government has a responsibility to play in making sure social media platforms are adhering to proper guidelines around misinformation, around hate, and why we have been saying for a long time the responsibility to keep people safe from misinformation and radicalization cannot rest in the hands of private companies,” said Singh. “It has to be the government taking responsibility.”
According to Blacklock's Reporter, the Liberal cabinet to date has not reintroduced a censorship bill that lapsed in the pre-election 2021 Parliament. Bill C-36 An Act To Amend The Criminal Code proposed $70,000 fines for internet users responsible for legal content deemed “likely to foment detestation or vilification.”
Cabinet in a July 29, 2021 Technical Paper and Discussion Paper went further in suggesting the appointment of a federal censor, the Digital Safety Commissioner, to monitor legal internet content. The Commissioner would have powers to investigate anonymous complaints, conduct closed-door hearings, and block websites.
The proposal drew protests from a majority of 9,218 petitioners to the Department of Canadian Heritage. Academics, libertarians, lawyers, legislators and free speech advocates said regulation of legal speech was unwieldy and unconstitutional. Hate speech is already banned under 1970 amendments to the Criminal Code.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a September 9 interview with legal counsel at the Freedom Convoy inquiry in Ottawa said he was committed to regulating the internet. “The prime minister emphasized the need for governments to take online rhetoric seriously,” said an Interview Summary by lawyers with the Public Order Emergency Commission.
“He noted we are living in a very difficult time right now,” said the Summary, adding: “The problem arises when disagreements are built on falsehoods or wrong facts because then it becomes difficult to have a real debate and genuine exchange of ideas.”
“The government believes in free speech,” said Trudeau. “But with social media there is a new way to foment anger and hate that is different from anything we have seen before, difficult to counter, and it is destabilizing our democracy.”
Matthew Horwood is the Parliamentary Bureau Chief of the Western Standard based in the Parliamentary Bureau. He has a degree in journalism from Carleton University and has been a reporter for the Hill Times and the Ottawa Business Journal.
Singh was the guy who asserted that Freedom Convoy participants were guilty of attempted murder by trying to burn down an apartment building in Ottawa with people locked inside ... which was completely false. So he's a fine one to be lecturing others about spreading misinformation!
The new Conservative government should vote in such a law and fine every Lieberal, NDP and Green politician $70,000 for every instance if fear propaganda they uttered in public. Then do the same for every bought-off MSM journalist.
Censorship of sree speech is what Communists and Fascists did in the USSR and N@z! Germany. It's still happening today in the brutal communist dictatorship known as Cuba. And it's staring us right in the face in Canada right now!
This is where Canada is heading under the Trudeau-Singh-Notley Liberal-NDP coalition. This was always the end game for Bill C-11.
If Harper had filled those 30-odd empty Senate seats before he left office in 2015, would this have prevented passing C-!!?
Exactly, well said eshea, we can protect ourselves on line, but we have no protection from the evils of the NDP/Liberals. The best way to protect us from “misinformation” is for the Liberal/NDP regime to stop spreading it, the greatest purveyors of misinformation and lies is them.
Remember Alberta, the Federal and Provincial NDP are joined together by a Party Constitution, so Rachel Notley is in total support of all the Actions taken by Jughead Singh, up to and including his propping up of the Justin Castro regime.
Anyone with an NDP MP must email them and tell them if they support censorship, they will be voted out of office. This might not help, but it’s a good start.
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(16) comments
in his homeland they routinely kill Christians for any made up reason
Singh was the guy who asserted that Freedom Convoy participants were guilty of attempted murder by trying to burn down an apartment building in Ottawa with people locked inside ... which was completely false. So he's a fine one to be lecturing others about spreading misinformation!
Singh must be terrified of the public opinion of him that he wants more censorship of the internet.
How did we end up with so many stupid people in government?
Singh is an opportunist and will mimic the sentiment of the Liberal government. All to guise their incompetence and irrelevance.
The new Conservative government should vote in such a law and fine every Lieberal, NDP and Green politician $70,000 for every instance if fear propaganda they uttered in public. Then do the same for every bought-off MSM journalist.
In a previous life, Josef Goebbles?
Probably.
Misinformation and hate is actually code for the truth.
Bingo! You got it in one!
The main purveyors of misinformation and hate is the Federal government itself.
Censorship of sree speech is what Communists and Fascists did in the USSR and N@z! Germany. It's still happening today in the brutal communist dictatorship known as Cuba. And it's staring us right in the face in Canada right now!
This is where Canada is heading under the Trudeau-Singh-Notley Liberal-NDP coalition. This was always the end game for Bill C-11.
If Harper had filled those 30-odd empty Senate seats before he left office in 2015, would this have prevented passing C-!!?
Sorry for the errors. Plus, I had to change the spelling of 'N@z!.' Apparently, it was profanity. Or was it calling Trudeau 'T__d!0t'?
Get a VPN and connect via the US- Censorship is coming so prepare to go around the system for a couple of dollars a month for a VPN.
I don't need internet protection... I need protection from the NDP/Liberals!
Exactly, well said eshea, we can protect ourselves on line, but we have no protection from the evils of the NDP/Liberals. The best way to protect us from “misinformation” is for the Liberal/NDP regime to stop spreading it, the greatest purveyors of misinformation and lies is them.
Remember Alberta, the Federal and Provincial NDP are joined together by a Party Constitution, so Rachel Notley is in total support of all the Actions taken by Jughead Singh, up to and including his propping up of the Justin Castro regime.
Anyone with an NDP MP must email them and tell them if they support censorship, they will be voted out of office. This might not help, but it’s a good start.
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PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
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Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
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