Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would be happy to continue. Thank you. I appreciate it.
As I was saying, it is a widely held belief in free countries that the content individuals post on social media should not be regulated, because as soon as it is regulated, it becomes an imposition on their freedoms. Then we go down a path of censoring what is okay and what is not okay to be said, what is okay and what is not okay to be expressed, what is okay and not okay to think or feel, what things are okay to like and what things are not okay to like.
The government talks about Canadian content. Then they talk about preserving “social culture” or “Canadian culture”. Who defines these things? I am curious. Who is going to be the arbiter of what preserves Canadian culture? Since when is respect for the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms not considered an utmost point within protecting Canadian culture? Shouldn't that be the very first thing we would want to do, if we truly desire to preserve Canadian culture? Should we not then want to allow Canadians the freedom to express their opinions, to hold their own beliefs and to put up a video they wish to post?
I understand, when we go down the road and we get into things like hate speech.... I understand that. That's why we have the Criminal Code. The Criminal Code protects people from such things as hate speech. What we're talking about here today, however, is the content that an individual posts on their social media page, because it's the public square. That's where they engage in conversations with friends and family and the general public. The content that individuals post there, the things they say there, the videos they share, the beliefs they express, should not be subject to regulations. This bill would mandate that this would in fact be the case.
It has been raised by many that this implicates freedom of expression and that it raises a huge number of questions with regard to people's charter rights.
For us to continue considering this bill in its current state would be a mistake, because then we would be considering this legislation as it stands now. It has already been stated clearly, by multiple experts on the topic including former CRTC commissioners, that this legislation goes too far, that it is overreaching and that it infringes upon the rights and freedoms of Canadians.
To suggest that we keep going and then, once we get to the end, seek a charter statement, and even then, once we have that charter statement.... To go back and make changes wouldn't necessarily be permitted. It's not guaranteed that we will get to make those changes, because making those changes would require unanimous consent from the members around the table.
Canadians don't want us to go there. Canadians don't want us to bind our hands, and that's exactly what would be happening. We'd be handcuffing ourselves.
It's better that we get the charter statement now, before continuing. If we get that charter statement now—if we seek that legal opinion before continuing—it allows us the opportunity to then consider this bill under that precedent. Then we can make the changes that are necessary as we go along. The ability to do that then allows us to rightly protect the precious freedoms that Canadians hold.
It is incumbent upon us to push the pause button. It's incumbent upon us to seek that refreshed charter statement, now that proposed section 4.1 has been removed and the dramatic change that results from that. Canadians deserve that. Canadians deserve to have their voices heard. Canadians, more importantly, deserve to have their rights and freedoms protected. Canadians deserve the ability to express freely their opinions and their beliefs and to be able to participate in what is now the new public square.
They should be able to do that, free from having their content scrutinized, regulated, taken down or bumped up in priority, based on what the CRTC, and whoever within the CRTC becomes the czar of truth, determines. Canadians deserve better than that.
The motion in front of me, which calls for us to continue and promises, at the end, that a charter statement will be sought and that the committee will hear from the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Canadian Heritage as soon as possible to discuss the revised charter statement, that motion is not good enough. It's just not. It's not good enough for Canadians. They deserve better.
Rather than proceeding with that motion—or rather than voting in favour of that motion, I should say—I would suggest that we seek the charter statement now, before continuing rather than at the end.
I think I'm done for now.