Debates of Oct. 21st, 2026

Alleged Mis-characterization of Members' Remarks

[The Deputy Speaker, Tom Kmiec]

I thank all members who provided information. The Speaker will take it back for a response.

I wish to inform the House that because of the deferred recorded division, the time provided for Government Orders will be extended by 12 minutes.

Safe Social Media Act

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages]

moved that Bill C-34, An Act to enact the Digital Safety Act and the Digital Safety Commission of Canada Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts, be read the second time and referred to a committee.

Mr. Speaker, I will start off by seeking unanimous consent to share my time with the member for Outremont.

[The Deputy Speaker, Tom Kmiec]

Is it agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise today on Bill C-34, the safe social media act.

Upon taking office, the Prime Minister pledged to protect and strengthen Canada, and that is what we are doing today. We have also remained focused on ensuring that as Canadians, we take control of our own destiny, protect what we believe in and pave the way for future generations. That starts with keeping Canadians safe, not only in their communities but online. Today, I am here to reaffirm our government's unwavering commitment to protecting Canadians and, in particular, young Canadians.

We have all seen how online harms have exploded. These harms have real consequences for our communities. We need only think of the Tumbler Ridge tragedy, which claimed eight lives, including six children, and left many more injured. The perpetrator of the shooting used OpenAI's chatbot to get advice. Another example is the young person who was admitted to Toronto's SickKids hospital in a catatonic state after classmates set up a site just to humiliate them.

The Canadian Centre for Child Protection processes more than 100,000 reports of online child sexual abuse every month. Police-reported online child sexual exploitation incidents rose by 347% between 2014 and 2024 alone. Violent online networks are targeting our children on the platforms they use every day, encouraging them to hurt themselves or even take their own lives. If this activity happened on the playground, the playground would be shut down immediately.

One in four young people say they have been cyberbullied. This represents a 500% increase since 2014. We are also witnessing a rise in mental health challenges, including anxiety, low self-esteem and suicidal thoughts. These figures are alarming. Behind every one of these statistics is a child, parents and a family.

Over the summer, my colleagues on this side of the House and on the other side of the House and I met with Canadians, experts, parents and young people. Everywhere we went, we heard the same message: We need to act, and we need to act urgently.

Parents, teachers and caregivers cannot be expected to face these challenges alone, nor can they be expected to take on some of the world's most sophisticated technology companies by themselves. Urgent action is needed to hold online services accountable and to ensure that our children are safe on the platforms they are growing up with.

The reality is that our laws have not kept up and kept pace with technology. Current legislation imposes penalties only after the harm has occurred, rather than preventing it in the first place. This bill, the safe social media act, would establish clear responsibilities for regulated social media services and AI chatbot services operating in Canada. It would place the onus where it belongs: on the platforms themselves. It would ensure their services are safe.

This act is structured around three core duties.

The first is a duty to act responsibly. Social media services would need to assess and mitigate the risks of exposure to seven categories of clear, harmful content, apply labels to synthetically generated content, build safety measures into the design of their platforms, make it easy for Canadians to report and submit complaints, and, finally, provide Canadians with better tools to keep themselves safe, such as blocking and flagging functions. AI chatbot services would have to mitigate the risk of chatbots communicating harmful content, intervene in crisis situations when a user intends to harm themselves or another person, and mitigate the risk of chatbots engaging in harmful behaviour with our children.

Secondly, social media platforms would have a duty to make certain content inaccessible. Platforms would be required to remove the most serious forms of harmful content within 24 hours of it being flagged or reported. This includes content that sexually victimizes a child or revictimizes a survivor and intimate content communicated without consent.

Third, the law would establish the duty to protect children. It would require social media and AI chatbot services to implement age-appropriate safeguards. This means building safety into the design of their services and ensuring that children are not exposed to high-risk interactions or harmful content.

This includes an obligation for regulated services to prevent children from accessing pornographic content on their services.

For regulated social media platforms, this would also mean having a responsibility to prevent children under the age of 16 from having social media accounts. This approach was requested by parents and educators almost unanimously. It is in line with the emerging international approaches to online safety, but this design is made for Canadians.

We expect platforms to adopt age verification and age estimation measures that meet the highest standards of security and privacy protection.

However, the age restriction is just one of the measures in this bill, because we know that the best way to protect young people is to design online spaces to be safe. That is why social media platforms that put sufficient safeguards in place will be able to seek an exemption from the age restriction.

Finally, regulated services will need to be transparent with Canadians and publish digital safety plans detailing how they are meeting their obligations.

We also recognize that Canadians deserve to know how their personal information is being used, shared and protected. That is why my colleague, the Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, introduced Bill C-36. It represents the most significant change to Canada's private sector privacy law in over 25 years. This bill establishes clear guardrails to protect Canadians' personal information, with a special focus on children's personal information.

Making Canadians safer online, enhancing platforms' accountability and preventing online harms before they occur must be priorities for us and the House.

The safe social media act would establish conditions necessary for the online services that shape our lives to operate responsibly and, importantly, transparently. It is designed to address current concerns while allowing us to keep pace with technological changes, which often outpace legislation. Finally, it would ensure that our children and Canadians can benefit from new technologies without compromising their safety and privacy.

Canada has been falling behind, and we must ensure that Canadian youth are no less protected than young people elsewhere as our world becomes increasingly digital. We need to act now. Canadians expect action from the House, and we must deliver.

I invite all members to give this bill serious consideration and engage in an open and constructive debate. Our children's safety must be a shared priority that rises above partisan lines. I am committed to working with all members of the House to protect our children online.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Mr. Speaker, one of the provisions in Bill C-34 is that those under the age of 16 would not be able to set up or maintain social media accounts. However, that provision is only in place temporarily until social media companies meet a set of guidelines that are yet to be determined. Those guidelines are not defined in the legislation.

For the sake of parents who are seeking clarity on this, I am wondering if the minister would care to expose what those guidelines might be in order to make sure that kids are in fact kept safe once those accounts once again become available to them.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I think an important feature to keep kids safe before the harm occurs, as opposed to prosecuting once the damage has occurred, is to make sure we have a regulator in place that can put together precisely these guidelines. I will admit that this bar would be quite high and that there is probably a legitimate debate to be had here and in committee as to what those regulations would be and whether they would be determined by the regulator or perhaps even by committee. Obviously, in the conception of a regulatory platform, regulation should not necessarily be debated in the House on every item. I think that is a careful balance we are willing to consider.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by commending the minister for his bill and his speech.

The Standing Committee on Industry and Technology heard from representatives from Meta as part of our study on fraud. Basically, we learned that there are long delays when fraudulent ads or content are reported. Another witness who represented Wealthsimple said that scammers had impersonated Wealthsimple and that it took more than five days for the fraudulent ad to be taken down. The representative from Meta told us that the company is doing everything it can and that it cannot do any more.

How will the minister ensure that the web giants, the platforms that often seem to think that they are above the law, do comply with the law and co-operate?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

Mr. Speaker, that is a very good question. We need to be very clear about what the bill can and cannot necessarily cover. I think the issue of online fraud is of great concern to the House, particularly when it comes to the online experiences of our children and young people. Platforms have a duty of care.

This is a first in Canada. I believe it could help address certain aspects of online fraud, but it is clear that we need a highly targeted approach in this area and we must ensure that platforms act responsibly. This is an important first step, but it does not represent the entirety of the debate. I am certain the House will want to continue examining the issue of online fraud, and it may do so through another, more comprehensive bill.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I really want to express my gratitude that the minister has moved forward on such an important issue that many Canadians are genuinely concerned about. Protecting the interests of our children is so critically important with respect to social media, the advancement of AI and so much more. I wonder if there are individuals whom the minister would like to recognize who have contributed to the development of the legislation.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his advocacy in this matter, and I thank the member for Outremont, as well as members from across the way who have been engaging with citizens. I think there is cross-partisan support for this very targeted bill, which would be doing a very basic thing we need to do as elected officials: to protect our kids. I think that is key. If we cannot get it right, there is probably no reason for us to be here.

Educators, SickKids in Toronto and Alberta Children's Hospital have all been approaching us with the same concerns. If we talk to frontline workers, such as doctors who see kids in the emergency room, and this is gallows humour and everything, we hear that they want to see more broken bones as opposed to broken souls. It is really alarming to talk to doctors and hear them say that 10 years or 15 years ago, this was something they were seeing maybe on a monthly basis. They are now seeing it on a daily basis with their patients.

I want to thank all the doctors and educators and all the people out there who have been advocating for this for some time and holding us to account. I also want to give a particular shout-out to the online protection group in Winnipeg that has been doing amazing work to flag all this garbage online and to make sure people are held to account and put in jail where that is merited.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I am truly honoured to share my time with the minister himself as we begin debate on his safe social media bill. I sincerely thank him and his team for their leadership.

This debate is about young people's safety, but it is also about their rights and their freedom to learn, connect and express themselves. Our responsibility as parliamentarians is to preserve these rights and freedoms while protecting young people from harm.

This debate is about the kind of childhood we want our children to have: a childhood with room to explore, to make friends and to make mistakes without those mistakes necessarily following them for the rest of their life, and a childhood in which their safety comes first.

The numbers tell us how much is at stake. Twenty-three per cent of teenagers aged 12 to 17 spend five hours or more a day on social media, one in seven girls in grades 9 and 10 shows signs of addiction, and 52% of teens report receiving unwanted sexual images, mostly through social media platforms. Statistics Canada reports that the rate of police-reported online child luring rose by 65% in 2024, and that number continues to climb. That same year, cybertip.ca received more than 2,300 reports of sextortion.

I approach this debate of course as a parliamentarian but also as a mother. My daughter is nine years old. She is not on social media yet, but she is curious about technology and always comes home with stories about TikTok that are being shared in the playground, and I know the decisions so many Canadian parents have made already or are wrestling with today are waiting for me just on the other side: when to say yes, how to say no and how to keep her safe.

Parents are being asked to navigate technologies that evolve faster than most of us can follow, built by some of the largest and most sophisticated companies in the world. We tell parents to set better boundaries. We tell children to show more self-control. Well, it is time we told companies designing these platforms to do better. For too long, we have asked families to take on technology giants by themselves. We have asked children to resist products deliberately designed to hold their attention. It is just not a fair fight, and it is time we changed the rules.

The call for change has come from across Canada: grandparents worried about their grandchildren, parents struggling to set boundaries, teachers seeing the pressures in their classrooms first-hand, and pediatricians and emergency room physicians confronting the consequences on a daily basis.

This call to action has come from people in my own community. In Outremont, our riding association submitted a resolution to make 16 the minimum age for having social media accounts and to require the major platforms to enforce that age restriction. I want to thank all members of our association, especially our chair, Jonathan Nuss, for spearheading this resolution with such conviction.

I was very proud to champion the resolution at our Liberal convention in Montreal in April, where party members from across the country overwhelmingly voted in its favour.

Going from the concerns of parents and teachers in our community to a debate here in Parliament is what grassroots politics can achieve. That is what democracy is capable of: people coming together, speaking up and pushing for change, and then change coming right here before the people's House in Ottawa. An Angus Reid Institute poll found that three-quarters of Canadians support a ban on social media use for children under 16. This is not a partisan issue. There is room in the House to disagree about the details. There should also be room to work together to get them right.

I have had the privilege of learning from advocates at the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, SickKids, the Canadian Medical Association, Apathy is Boring, Unplugged Canada, Phone-Free Schools Movement, Raising Awareness About Digital Dangers and many others. Their persistence has helped us come to this moment. We have also listened to teenagers. Many told me that they supported an age limit because being online did not feel like much of a choice anymore. When every friend is on the platform, opting out means being left out. We should listen carefully when young people tell us they want help.

Canada is not acting alone. Australia has already implemented a minimum age of 16 for accounts on social media platforms, and other governments are pursuing stronger protections as well. We should learn from those experiences and build an approach grounded in Canadian rights, Canadian values and our responsibility to children. At the heart of that approach is safety by design. That means looking at how a platform works. What does its algorithm recommend? What keeps a child scrolling for six or seven hours? What happens when a child is in distress, and what protections are in place before something goes terribly wrong?

Infinite scroll is a design choice. Autoplay is a design choice. Recommendation systems are design choices. Safety must be a design choice too.

In practical terms, under the bill before us, platforms subject to the age restriction would be required to take measures to prevent young people under the age of 16 from having an account. The bill also allows companies to seek an exemption if they can demonstrate that they have provided adequate safeguards for the protection of children. The decision would be made by the new digital safety commission of Canada, an independent body that sets the conditions for granting an exemption. Companies would have to provide evidence to convince the commission. We want companies to compete to better protect children, not just to keep their attention for as long as possible. They should use their capacity for innovation to keep young people safe.

AI chatbot services would also have certain obligations, particularly to reduce dangerous behaviours and to intervene in crisis situations. An independent regulator would enforce these obligations and would have the power to investigate, issue compliance orders and impose penalties. This framework is based on clear responsibilities, independent oversight and consequences for non-compliance.

Parliament has important work ahead. We must continue to hear from parents, young people, doctors, teachers, privacy experts and child safety advocates, as well as from the companies that would have to implement these rules. We must protect privacy and freedom of expression and make sure that the rules work in practice. That scrutiny is part of our responsibility, and so is acting. Innovation and accountability can and should go hand in hand. If we can build technology powerful enough to transform society, we can build that technology with children's safety at its core.

My daughter is nine years old. The decisions we make here will help shape the digital world she grows up in. I want her to benefit from technology, but I also want the tech companies building that digital world of the future to take her safety as seriously as I do. That is what every parent wants. That is what we should all want for every child. We are talking here about the next generation of our country.

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Middlesex—London, ON]

Mr. Speaker, over one of the break weeks in September, I had an opportunity to host two town halls in Middlesex—London, where I heard from parents from all around the communities I am honoured and privileged to represent. I think we can all agree that parents want to protect their children. We all want to protect children from online predators, but what I heard from parents is that they feel they should have the opportunity, first and foremost, to protect their children, and that they also should have the opportunity to be heard on this matter.

I am asking the government if it will consult with an array of Canadians from across this country to hear from parents what they would like the government to do, just as I did with my own constituents, and take that feedback going forward with this bill to make sure we get it right so we can all protect children from online predators.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to assure the hon. member that the conversations will continue. I would like to point out that the minister did extensive consultations over the summer, as did I. Of course, the bill will move to committee if it is passed at second reading in the House, and there will be an opportunity for further study of the bill, where we will again hear from parents.

I would like to point out that what the bill aims to do is to provide additional tools to parents. Nobody would be dictating to parents in any way how to teach or set boundaries for their own children. As my colleague would know from the bill itself, it aims to ensure that young people cannot create accounts, but if a parent would like their child to see something online, that would still remain possible.

I hope we will have the opportunity to work together so I can help address some of the concerns the member may have.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I commend my colleague on her speech.

I agree with her that it is necessary, and indeed urgent, to regulate access to platforms, particularly to protect young people. What worries me is the issue of transparency or, more specifically, democratic oversight. My colleague mentioned that the government wants to create a new digital safety commission, but the bill does not specify which platforms it would regulate, nor is it clear what powers this new commission will have.

Can my colleague explain to us what specific new powers she wants this commission to have? We are willing to support a good idea from the government, but we do not know how this new commission will work. I get the impression that something is being created without any clear explanation as to how this will solve the problem.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question from my colleague from the Bloc Québécois.

Yes, the bill before the House provides for the creation of a commission. The process will be conducted in a very transparent manner, but we are not there yet. If my colleague has any suggestions regarding the commission's powers beyond those already listed in the bill, we are ready to discuss them and work with him so that we can collaborate with the Bloc Québécois to move the bill forward.

[Greg Fergus, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to commend my colleague for her speech and for her work on this bill.

I would like her to know that many of my constituents are concerned that the tech giants are behaving as though they bear no responsibility for what their algorithms show or what content appears on their platforms. I would like to know whether the parliamentary secretary is satisfied that this bill is a step in the right direction toward ensuring that everyone involved is held accountable for the content on their platforms.

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I can confirm that the bill before us will ensure better regulation of social media and better protection for young people online. It is indeed a step in the right direction.

In my opinion, a tremendous amount of work remains to be done. As we can see, the technologies keep evolving, but we absolutely must act, and now is the time.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Mr. Speaker, there was a time when children spent their afternoons riding bikes around their neighbourhoods and families gathered around the dinner table and discussed their day. They caught up with friends after school, which, of course, meant meeting in person or picking up the landline, often tethered to the wall, and making a phone call. An embarrassing moment at school might become the talk of the playground the next day, but it would never follow a child home in the form of a viral video. While children have always faced dangers from strangers in the past, those encounters were more likely to happen in person, where a stranger would have to go through a school or a parent to access the child.

Today's reality is very different. Children can now be reached by strangers through a screen in the privacy of their own bedroom. An embarrassing moment can be recorded, shared and viewed by thousands of people within seconds, and harmful content can appear on a child's screen without warning, while addictive algorithms are designed to keep young users scrolling long after they should have logged off. Today's children face a set of challenges unlike any previous generation in this regard. It is important for us to underscore the seriousness and severity of those challenges.

From an early age, children are exposed to digital devices, and they spend hours navigating online spaces, where the risks are not always apparent but often appear when it is too late. They face addictive algorithms designed to capture their attention, and they keep scrolling, often at the expense of sleep, physical activity and face-to-face interaction. They are exposed to harmful and inappropriate content, including material that can be disturbing, misleading or unsuitable for their age, and this happens without them even searching for it or wanting it.

They face cyber-bullying and online harassment where degrading comments, humiliating images and personal information can spread rapidly and remain accessible long after they have logged off. The consequences can be serious and long-lasting, leading to anxiety, depression, low self-esteem and social isolation. The spread of humiliating content can also damage a child's reputation or affect their academic performance, often leaving them feeling unsafe even in their own homes.

They are also vulnerable to online predators who can use anonymity to privately message them, gain a child's trust to manipulate them and exploit their vulnerability. The Canadian Centre for Child Protection reports that it receives over 100,000 reports every single month with regard to child exploitation. In fact, it is so grave that authorities simply cannot keep up. As children grow up online, they face growing concerns about privacy and mental health from the permanent circulation of personal images and the pressure of comparing themselves to the carefully curated and often half-false versions of other people's lives. These are serious challenges for children that, of course, have lasting implications. These children are still developing the judgment and maturity that they need to recognize risks and protect themselves.

Consider the case of Amanda Todd, a young British Columbia teenager whose story brought national and international attention to the dangers of online exploitation and cyber-bullying. At just 12 years old, Amanda Todd was targeted by an online predator operating from the Netherlands, thousands of kilometres away from her home in British Columbia. He persuaded her to expose herself on a webcam and saved the image for later. He used it to blackmail her, threatening to share it with her friends and family if she did not continue to do things for him. What followed was years of exploitation and harassment, online and off-line. Amanda died by suicide at the age of 15 due to this experience. Amanda's story is a devastating reminder that the Internet has no borders. A predator thousands of kilometres away was able to reach a Canadian child, exploit her trust and inflict lasting harm without ever being physically present in her life.

More recently, the tragedy in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, raised serious questions with regard to the role that artificial intelligence can play in the lives of young people, as well as the responsibility that technology companies have to protect the general public. On February 10, a shooting in Tumbler Ridge claimed the lives of eight people, including five students, and it forever altered the life of Maya, who has been left with life-altering injuries. This tragedy devastated families, it crushed a community, and it shook our entire country. In the months since, reports have emerged about the shooter's interaction with an artificial intelligence chatbot before the attack. The company has confirmed that an account associated with the shooter had been flagged and closed months before the tragedy, but nothing further had been done. A platform's inaction and negligence resulted in one of Canada's very worst mass shootings.

The reality is clear. Children are increasingly exposed to online risks, parents are struggling to keep up with rapidly evolving technology, and online platforms are failing to do enough to protect children and support families. Platform operators will often claim that they are adding safety features or tools for parents to use, but these are often buried in hard-to-find places and are too complicated for busy parents to be able to use. Sometimes parents are not tech-savvy enough, either. The truth of the matter is that the platforms' first priority is not the protection of children but rather their commercialization and, of course, making a profit, often at the expense of the safety and well-being of Canada's young people.

Canadians and legislators are saying enough is enough. We want to move forward. We want to make a difference. Platforms must be held accountable because they cannot be trusted to regulate themselves. We have tried that for too long. As legislators, therefore, it is our responsibility to ensure that online platforms are held accountable for their actions and the impact of their products. We must put legislation in place that truly empowers parents by putting control in their hands rather than in the hands of big tech.

I have heard from many parents who want legislation that reflects the concerns they face every day as they try to keep their children safe online. They want platforms to address harmful content and features that can negatively affect their children's mental health and well-being, rather than designing online experiences that put that well-being at risk. They want their children to be able to enjoy the benefits of technology without sacrificing their confidence, their sleep or their mental health. They want to know that their children will not be exposed to sexually explicit material while browsing the internet. They want platform operators to take responsibility for preventing children from accessing this material, rather than leaving parents to discover and address the problem when it is too late.

Parents want their children protected from online predators and from those who seek to manipulate, exploit or harm them. The non-consensual sharing of intimate images can have devastating consequences for children and their families. AI makes it easier than ever to create convincing yet fake intimate images of real people, putting children at great risk of humiliation, harassment and lasting harm. Parents rightly expect platforms to act swiftly to remove these images and take meaningful steps to prevent them from being created and shared in the first place. These are not unreasonable demands. They are the concerns of parents who love their children and deeply want to protect them.

Parents are not asking the government to take over their role. Parents know their children better than any government official or any technology company ever could. Their judgment and their authority must be respected in whatever legislation is put forward. The role of government and online platforms should be to support parents, not replace them. That support must also come with safeguards for the privacy of children and their families. Furthermore, parents expect law enforcement agencies to have the necessary tools to investigate child exploitation and bring perpetrators to justice, all while upholding Canadians' constitutional freedoms.

Any legislation intended to keep kids safe and empower parents must address these concerns, which brings me to Bill C-34, the bill up for debate today. It has potential, but its success would depend on whether it would deliver meaningful protections for children and give parents the necessary support they need. Good intentions are not enough. We must look carefully at whether this bill's stated intent would in fact be achieved.

My colleagues and I have held dozens of town hall meetings across this country, and we have surveyed those in our communities. Canadian parents have a lot of questions about the bill. They want to know if the legislation would actually make the difference that they need. For example, the bill would require platforms to implement safe design features, but what that would really mean in practice is not transparent in the bill. How would the government ensure that recommendation algorithms, autoplay functions or notifications are designed with children's well-being in mind? Much of the detail of the legislation is left until later.

I have heard from parents who are concerned about the amount of time their children spend online and the difficulty of setting boundaries in an environment designed to keep them engaged. Imagine being a mother who wants her child to put their phone down to get a good night's sleep and to focus on school. She can set rules at home, but she cannot control the algorithms that are being used to influence her child and where her child looks. There are no settings with regard to notifications and when to draw them back or to turn off the device during school hours.

Many parents are asking about the regulations that are to be established after the bill is passed, and let us be honest, there are a lot of them that are to come later. They want to see real tools that would allow them as parents to set boundaries regarding who their children are connecting with, or to manage screen time and restrict inappropriate content. They want clear, accessible settings that work. There are also important questions about how this legislation proposes to restrict young people's access to social media.

If the government imposes a blanket social media ban for children under 16, what happens next? Young people tell me that they will find a workaround, and parents confirm that this is true. They know it. Many of these kids are smart. Australia applied a ban, and 70% of its youth are still plugged in, so what assurance do we have that Canada's model would actually be more effective?

Many parents are also concerned about age verification. Since these measures would apply to all social media users, regardless of age, Canadians want to know exactly how their identity would be verified. Would Canadians be asked to submit government-issued identification, biometric data or other sensitive personal information, and if so, what are the regulations that would guide that? What safeguards would ensure that this information is not retained, misused or exposed in a data breach?

In my conversation with parents, video games come up constantly. Kids spend hours on platforms like Roblox and Minecraft, where grooming and exploitation happen regularly. Why does Bill C-34 focus heavily on social media feeds while leaving these major gaming environments entirely out?

Other parents have pointed out that AI chatbots are now widely accessible. Dedicated platforms such as OpenAI offer chatbot services, while similar tools are increasingly available on social media platforms like Instagram. Over the summer, a doctor shared with me a very heartbreaking story. She told me about a patient of hers who suffered from severe bullying. Looking for help, the young girl asked an AI chatbot how to end her life by overdosing on iron pills. When she hesitated to swallow that many pills, the chatbot actually suggested an alternative way of being able to consume them. The girl did as the chatbot told her and ended up in the hospital. Fortunately, however, she was saved. This is alarming. A child who was already struggling, who needed support and compassion, turned to a chatbot for answers and received instructions that were meant to end her life.

Bill C-34 introduces duties for chatbot services and automated systems, but how would the government ensure that these safeguards apply wherever children might turn for help within the AI system, whether through social media, independent chat apps or educational tools? Parents want to know the answers to these questions.

Parents are also asking fair questions about the digital safety commission, which would be created under Bill C-34. Given the tremendous power that would be granted to the commission to act as rule-maker, investigator, enforcer and judge, what specific checks and balances does Bill C-34 include to ensure the new commission would not abuse its extensive power and would in fact respect the rights and freedoms of Canadians? These are important questions, because the details of the legislation would affect what Canadians could access online, how platforms would operate and how children's safety would or would not be protected.

When so much is left up to future decisions by a regulatory body to be made behind closed doors with no accountability, Canadians need clarity. They need clarity about the limits of the authority that would be given to this commission and the safeguards that would be given to make it work for us as Canadians.

Protecting children online is not a partisan issue. Parents across Canada want to know that their children can use technology safely without being exposed to exploitation, dangerous content or preventable harm. Legislation must address these concerns in practical and effective ways. We must ensure that online platforms are held accountable for the design choices they make and the risks they create. We must give parents accessible and easy-to-use tools to protect their children. Parents want to be empowered. We must ensure that safeguards keep pace with emerging technologies, including artificial technology, and we must do all of this while protecting the privacy and constitutional rights of Canadians. This is what is required. It is a tall order, but I do believe it is possible.

The government cannot simply tell parents that their children are safer because a bill has been passed. It must demonstrate that the measures introduced will actually work and will actually make a difference. To that end, Bill C-34 needs to be studied carefully with input from children, parents, doctors, child psychologists, law enforcement officials, technology and artificial intelligence specialists, civil liberty advocates and other witnesses who can help us understand the risks children face online and determine how best to address them.

Protecting kids online is non-negotiable for Conservatives. It is a must, which is why we are thankful that the government is finally doing something. This is the Liberals' third attempt after all. However, good intentions require sound mechanisms. We are focused on holding tech giants accountable and empowering parents, not expanding government bureaucracy. As the bill before us moves to committee, we will scrutinize its provisions to ensure that it delivers real protection, because we owe it to Canadian families to get this right.

[The Deputy Speaker, Tom Kmiec]

It is my duty pursuant to Standing Order 38 to inform the House that the questions to be raised tonight at the time of adjournment are as follows: the hon. member for Oxford, Public Safety; the hon. member for Edmonton Strathcona, Steel and Aluminum Industry; the hon. member for Algonquin—Renfrew—Pembroke, Taxation.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, the presentation of Bill C-34 and the establishment of things such as the safety commission clearly demonstrates that there is political will. I believe that political will is on all sides of the House in anticipation that we will see necessary legislation to protect our children. The member makes a good example with the number of files she raised.

The question I have for the member is related to the importance of recognizing, and she made reference to the safety commission, that the safety commission has the capability to address directly some of the issues that she raised as concerns for our young people. I agree, there needs to be accountability, and I look forward to the legislation ultimately going to committee.

I would like to hear her thoughts on that.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I spent the summer speaking with Canadians from coast to coast with regards to this legislation and the concerns they carry. One of them, with regard to the safety commission, is the fact that there is this bureaucratic body that will be set up in order to determine the regulations that will guide our way forward concerning safety online for children. However, it is more than that. This commission is meant to exist with a minimum of five people but, according to the legislation, it can exist with as few as one person. One individual could have the ability to carry out all of the power that is vested in the commission. There are legal experts who have brought to our attention that this power is vested in no other body in any other democratic country in the world. That deserves careful consideration.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by congratulating my colleague on her very moving and poignant speech. Indeed, urgent action is needed to protect our young people and improve digital safety.

My colleague referred to the measures put in place in Australia that did not produce the desired results. Can she tell us what lessons we can learn from the measures introduced in Australia? What role should the federal government play in ensuring safety, and what role should the provinces play?

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Mr. Speaker, in Australia, there was legislation put in place that essentially banned anyone under the age of 16 from setting up or maintaining a social media account. Within their legislation, they outlined 10 specific social platforms. What ended up happening is that many young people just went to other platforms that were not regulated. Of course, there is an argument to be said that this actually drives young people into the dark web, which is potentially dangerous.

There is another thing that happened in Australia. When the legislation was independently reviewed in terms of its effect or its impact, it was found that, three months after it was implemented, only 30% of youth had complied. In other words, 70% of youth accounts still existed and 70% of young people were still online within these social media platforms. There are questions there with regard to the efficacy of the legislation and whether it can work. I think that is one of the things we will be bringing to committee. What changes would be needed for the legislation to be successful?

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for her concern for the victims of Tumbler Ridge, Maya, of course, and also Paige, who is another survivor.

This gives me a chance to highlight one thing. I would like to say a special thanks to Kash Patel, director of the FBI; Mike Harrington, special agent in charge of the FBI in Washington state; Michael Duheme, RCMP commissioner; and Elija Rain, assistant commissioner, B.C. RCMP, for their work in apprehending James Cody Bryant.

I have less of a question and more of a comment. I just want to thank the hon. member for showing her heart for Maya and for the victims' families. They watch this kind of thing and they appreciate it. They are not forgotten. I also want to thank the hon. member for her concern about Canadians' privacy. In the effort to protect our kids, we cannot lose that effort.