The Liberal government’s controversial online-streaming bill passed its third reading in the Senate on Thursday night..A total of 43 Senators voted "yea" while 15 voted "nay" on Bill C-11, titled the 'Online Streaming Act.' The Senate proposed dozens of changes to the bill, which will now return to the House of Commons to be passed..The bill would update Canada’s broadcasting rules to reflect online streaming giants such as YouTube, Netflix and Spotify, and require them to contribute to Canadian content and make it accessible to users in Canada under the threat of steep financial penalties..Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez (Honoré-Mercier, QC) said he hopes the House of Commons will pass the bill next week after it reviews the Senate's changes. Rodriguez also said the Liberals would not accept all of the Senate's recommendations, though he did not specify which ones he disagrees with.."We'll see when the bill comes back. There are amendments that have zero impact on the bill. And others that do, and those, we will not accept them," the minister said on Thursday..The changes to the bill made by Senators include protecting user-generated content and highlighting the promotion of indigenous languages and black content creators. Other changes include prohibiting the CBC from producing sponsored content and requiring companies to verify users' ages before they see sexually-explicit material..The Senate also voted to remove a clause in the bill that Sen. Paula Simons claimed would give "extraordinary new powers to the government to make political decisions about things.".Critics have said the law leaves too much room for government control over user-generated content and social-media algorithms. Sen. Leo Housakos attempted to modify an aspect of the "deeply flawed" legislation that would allow the federal government to censor what Canadians see and post online by manipulating algorithms. But his efforts were ultimately unsuccessful..This week, during a Third Reading debate on C-11, Liberal-appointed senator and screenwriter David Richards compared the bill to George Orwell's 1984, Nazi Germany and Communist Russia..“In Germany it was called the Ministry of National Enlightenment,” Richards said. “This law will be one of scapegoating all those who do not fit into what our bureaucrats think Canada should be. Stalin again will be looking over our shoulder when we write.”
