Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez would like to believe Canadians want “stronger legislation” to regulate online content. This, he concludes from his department’s report What we heard: 2022 Roundtables on Online Safety. And if it were so, it would provide the public-relations cover for a Liberal priority, increasingly tight federal controls upon what Canadians can do with the internet. .However, if you're thinking, ‘That doesn’t sound right. Everybody I know thinks free speech is great. Who wants more controls?' you're not alone. And, you’re asking the right questions..The short explanation is the Liberals pay client groups for the opinions they want, and get them. But there is a longer answer..First, understand that the Government of Canada under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s control very much cares what you think. If you’re woke-ish, that’s fine. If you’re not, if you harbour unacceptable thoughts and don’t think of Canada as post-national, then as far as he is concerned, you need to have your head adjusted. Learn to love Big Brother and all that..How do the Liberals mean to accomplish this? Well, there is a template and they use it all the time..It starts with creating a new narrative of acceptable truth. This narrative may not in itself hold water. But like all big lies, if it is repeated often enough and issued on Government of Canada letterhead, and is not effectively contradicted in Canada's bought-and-paid-for mainstream media, it becomes accepted. Certainly, it reassures the lefties who don’t like your ideas and gives them 'authority' to shout you down. .The way new narratives are constructed is that once having defined what it wants to hear, the federal government just pays an interest group to say it back to them at a hearing arranged for that purpose. Then it compiles a report concluding — mirabile dictu — Canadians really do think whatever it is the government wants them to think and those who don’t must therefore be outliers. People being as unthoughtful as so many of us are, some of us even seize onto these hearing reports as if they were authentic..By way of illustration, let’s look at why this one on 'online safety' came about and how it was done..The why... Obviously on more than one occasion during the COVID-19 years, the Liberal government was seriously embarrassed by the difference between what they were telling people about masks, lockdowns and vaccines and what people were actually experiencing in their own lives. People didn’t like it and used the internet to say so. Notwithstanding the hand-in-glove relationship between Big Tech and all levels of government, very effective it was. And in a massive rebuke to the Liberal government a fleet of trucks went to Ottawa, and stayed there..How then, could the Liberals stop Canadians saying online what they really thought?.The how... Find a reliable group of people who agree with you in rejecting traditional free-speech values, and hide behind them. Thus, “between the months of July and November 2022, the minister of Canadian Heritage and his representatives conducted 19 roundtable discussions on key elements of a legislative and regulatory framework on online safety. In total, 13 regional round tables and six thematic round tables on Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Anti-Black Racism, Anti-Asian Racism, Gender-Based Violence, and Big Tech were held between July and November 2022. Participants were also called to provide their views on the advice from the Expert Advisory Group on Online Safety, which concluded its meetings on June 10.”.Not to prejudge things, but you’re not going to get a strong free speech defence from that lot. Meanwhile, people who might have made the free-speech-online argument were simply not invited. So, contra the Government of Canada propaganda, these were in no sense ‘public consultations,’ and the conclusion could have been predicted: “Participants believed online platforms have a responsibility to ensure the safety of users online given their role in enabling the creation, sharing, and promotion of content.”.Censorship, in other words..So there it is. That's how the Liberals get the words they want, to write the report they want, to introduce the new narrative they want —they get the people they want..And they do that by paying them. Space precludes a complete listing of the 100-plus groups that contributed to the online-safety report, however, here’s a representative handful of organizations involved in these hearings that frequently receive Government of Canada grants, with notes on recent awards..The National Council of Canadian Muslims: $474,000 (2021)The Canadian Council of Muslim Women: $768,000 (2023)Future Black Female: $412,180 (2023)Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund: $880,000 (2020)OUTSaskatoon: $1,100,000 (2019) $239,000 (2021)B’Nai Brith Canada: $70,000+ (2023)Canadian Anti-Hate Network: $268,000 (2022).Granted, with the majority of the more than 100 groups the Liberals invited to these regional and thematic gab-fests, they're pushing on an open door anyway..However, the strategy is much bigger. By using a pipeline of grants under various programs — mostly, but not entirely administered by Heritage Canada — the Liberals encourage financial dependency among their friendlies — clients such as these who can always be relied upon to support the government message..How big a pipeline? For example, in 2019 the Liberals began handing out $100 million to client groups under their 'Canada's Anti-Racism Strategy.' Last year's budget provided $85 million funding for a further four years, as "Canada’s fight against racism is far from over." (And you can bet it never will be, as long as the Liberals find 'victims' useful.).There are literally hundreds of these community organizations. And, it's not that they have no other useful purpose than to be shills for Liberal governments: Some also provide useful services to their own client groups. However, the people who get this money can always be relied upon to cheerfully parrot back whatever the Liberals need — in this case, chipping away at Canadian internet free speech values. .And the rest. Whether it's new un-nationalistic passports, a new and un-royal crown or even the images on the country's bank notes, the Liberals are out to change the face of Canada. And they're using the poor old taxpayers money to do it..Nobody voted for this. This is a racket to restrict freedom and to build and reinforce a Liberal majority..Be angry. And in 2025, support a party that will put a stop to it.
