As more and more conclude that Bill C-11 regulates user generated content, the Liberal government continues to insist that it does not.
As time goes on, there is a growing consensus that, yes, Bill C-11 regulates user generated content. This fact has been agreed upon by Music Canada, content creators, digital rights organizations, YouTube, and even the CRTC chairman, Ian Scott. Of course, this is something we’ve been saying from the very beginning, so it’s just continued confirmation of what we, and Michael Geist, have been saying from the very beginning.
In fact, more recently, Scott has reconfirmed this in another hearing. He seemed somewhat annoyed that people are still asking this when the answer is obvious, but he did confirm that, yes, Bill C-11 regulates user generated content:
CRTC Chair Ian Scott Confirms It Yet Again: Bill C-11 Includes Regulatory Power On User Contenthttps://t.co/pIk06VDYIf pic.twitter.com/3ZyUuEoViB
— Michael Geist (@mgeist) June 1, 2022
While this fact, to us, has been clear from the beginning, many other voices have joined in that, yes, Bill C-11 regulates user generated content. Now, the respectable thing to do at this stage is to admit that, maybe, just maybe, the bill has a mistake in it. At that point, maybe, just maybe, that the Liberal government could go back and fix that mistake. Sadly, the Liberal government seems to have taken a completely different approach. That approach is to go full Donald Trump and never admit to a mistake. Heritage Minister, Pablo Rodriguez, recently stood up in the House of Commons and proclaims that these calls are little more than Conservative lies:
The disrespect by @pablorodriguez to Canadian creators and CRTC Chair is beyond belief. Heritage Minister effectively claims repeated testimony before committee is simply inventing a concern about regulating user content in Bill C-11. Can’t get over this exchange. pic.twitter.com/kfzk7z2dqG
— Michael Geist (@mgeist) May 30, 2022
A compilation clip put together by Michael Geist really puts this whole dynamic into perspective:
If anything, this shows that the Liberal party is growing increasingly isolated in this debate. While they may have big broadcasters and big publishing on their side – the ones who effectively wrote the legislation – very few others are on their side. Given that the government is currently pushing to silence and shut down debate, it looks like the Liberal stance is to push this legislation through no matter how broken and unfair the law is. In the process, they basically are being belligerent and don’t care what the debate looks like.
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Facebook.
