In this eighth instalment of the vlog, I talk about the passage of Bill C-11 and what happens next.
Welcome to the 8th instalment of my vlog. Today, I talk about the passage of Bill C-11 and the steps ahead. The changes won’t be happening overnight, but there is reason for hope further down the road.
To check this video out, you can view it directly on YouTube or in the embed below:
I apparently recorded my first ‘Drew Wilson was right’ directly on YouTube. If you want the context, check out the latter portion of video 3 where I accurately predict that Bill C-11 will become law without the critical fixes needed.
As you may have heard by now, Bill C-11 has become law. This without any protections of user generated content and users who want their recommendations. Hilariously, supporters of the bill started falling over themselves to try and push for the regulation of social media and user generated content. If you want the source of the quotes in the video, you can find them all in my report here: https://www.freezenet.ca/as-ink-dries-on-bill-c-11-lobbyists-start-demanding-the-regulation-of-user-generated-content/
So, the next question then becomes, what happens next now that freedom of expression has basically been abolished? Well, things start getting more difficult for the government if you can believe it.
First, the government has to put forth the policy direction to the CRTC (easy, the government controls everything on that front).
Second, the CRTC will get to conduct “consultations” in an environment that will likely heavily favour the powers that be including the culture elite (also easy).
Third, the CRTC has to set things up to start regulating the internet. That’s not an exaggeration, they are well and truly trying to get the resources to start regulating, effectively, the entire internet. Good luck with that fools errand (medium difficulty because they might score some wins along the way, but this will always be, at best, a very touch and go proposition).
Fourth, the government has to deal with trade retaliation from the US government and US businesses. The centre of this will be CUSMA because there is a very clear cut case that Bill C-11 discriminates against US businesses (hard, though I’m sure the Canadian government will try to figure out how to worm its way out of this. Prospects are low for this, though.)
Fifth, and finally, the government has to content with lawsuits. There are plenty of angles to challenge Bill C-11 in court. This might include the platforms ability to operate in Canada as well as a number of other angles. The most important of these angles is, of course, the constitutional angle. For that, you’d have to argue that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms end where the internet begins. I think it would be the biggest legal shock of them all if the government actually wins on that argument. For that reason, it’s where my money is in terms of where Bill C-11 crashes and burns (Nearly impossible. We could see a massive upset in this step, but the odds of government success seems really really low from my perspective at this stage)
So, all this and more in this latest update. Things are bleak right now for freedom of expression in Canada, but as bad as things are now, there is reason for optimism. What’s more, things won’t be changing overnight. These stages will take months, if not, years. So, enjoy an unregulated YouTube while you still can.
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Facebook.
