Yes, I can.
In my opinion, the debates about whether Bill C-18 literally constitutes a link tax are hairsplitting. They are a bit beside the point.
The whole basis of the legislation is the notion that making available material or facilitating access to it is taking value from the party that made the thing, and that notion flies in the face of the entire Internet, because the entire Internet is built on the concept of linking, sharing, annotating, commenting and building on the work of others. That is what makes the Internet fantastic. There are limits to that. We do have copyright law, but there is no need and it is not beneficial to take the position that linking or making available is taking value, because it's not.
I know that people tend to dislike the phrase “breaks the Internet”. I dislike it, too, because it always sounds like hyperbole, and I am not trying to say that if this bill becomes law, the Internet is immediately different or immediately broken, but it is consistent with breaking the Internet, and it is a step on the road to breaking the Internet.
I would like to urge the committee to take a long view on this. The Internet is still quite young. It's going to be with us for a long time. I think the actions we take today that may seem small and of little consequence will shape it and will shape how it develops in ways that I think we could come to regret, and this is one of those ways.