Bill C-11

Bill C-11 entered what may be its final phase yesterday with a near split screen: at the Prime Time conference held at the Westin Hotel in Ottawa was ...

When the user content regulations concerns were raised, he went back to denying what the former CRTC chair, multiple independent senators, and thousands of creators have concluded, namely that prior to the Senate amendment the bill would open the door to regulating user content. When pressed on concerns from the production sector about a provision in the bill that treats Canadian and foreign streamers differently (a provision that is largely driven by Canada’s trade obligations), he suggested that the industry should be happy that it is getting something and later implausibly hinted that he could direct the CRTC to address the issue (he plainly cannot use a policy directive to violate CUSMA). Meanwhile, across the street, the Senate was in its final third reading debate of Bill C-11, closing the day by [passing the bill](https://twitter.com/SenateCA/status/1621300114403778560) with 26 amendments that include a change that scopes out user content but leaves professional music intact, consistent with the government’s stated objectives.

Famed Canadian authors Margaret Atwood and David Adams Richards are among novelists warning against the Trudeau government's online censorship Bill C-11 to ...

The writing had little to do with identity politics, but it did have much to do with identifying,” said Richards. “I am wondering if anyone on the staff of our Minister of Canadian Heritage understands this.” “That what George Orwell says we must resist is a prison of self-censorship,” Richards said during a speech in Canada’s Senate, where he sits as a Senator.

The Liberal government's Bill C-11, which will bring large streaming platforms under the regulating authority of the Canadian ...

[Canada](https://www.theepochtimes.com/t-t-canada) should be,” Richards said in the Senate on Jan. businesses,” the U.S. concerns it could impact digital streaming services and discriminate against U.S. [more “flexible” definition](https://www.theepochtimes.com/liberals-internet-regulation-bill-must-provide-flexible-definition-of-canadian-content-media-giant-executives-say_4733785.html) of Canadian content in order to showcase all of the country’s artistic voices and not just the ones whose content is monetized by Canadian producers. [heard similar concerns](https://www.theepochtimes.com/ottawa-looking-to-resolve-us-concerns-that-internet-regulation-bill-is-discriminatory-says-trade-minister_4926620.html) about the bill from U.S. [The Canadian Press](https://www.theepochtimes.com/liberal-online-streaming-bill-could-discriminate-against-american-firms-us-embassy_4977728.html) on Jan. [Bill C-11](https://www.theepochtimes.com/t-bill-c-11), which will bring large streaming platforms under the regulating authority of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission ( [CRTC](https://www.theepochtimes.com/t-crtc)), [has passed in the Senate](https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/senate-passes-liberals-controversial-online-streaming-act-with-a-dozen-amendments-1.6258138). “I do not know who will be able to tell me what Canadian content is and what it is not, but I know it won’t be in the Minister of Heritage’s power to ever tell me,” he added. [said earlier this week](https://www.theepochtimes.com/stalin-again-will-be-looking-over-our-shoulder-when-we-write-senator-on-bill-c-11_5025626.html) that he is concerned C-11 will bring about a culture of censorship in Canada. [prohibits the CBC](https://www.theepochtimes.com/senators-amend-online-streaming-bill-to-prohibit-cbc-from-publishing-sponsored-content_4920951.html) from broadcasting or publishing sponsored content. [previously attempted](https://www.theepochtimes.com/senate-rejects-amendment-to-narrow-scope-of-liberals-internet-bill_4895407.html) to pass an amendment that would exempt online content creators and programmers making less than $150 million annually from the CRTC’s regulation, but it was voted down 10-4 in November 2022. [for a review](https://www.parl.ca/legisinfo/en/bill/44-1/c-11) of the changes, which Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez says he hopes will last less than a week before the bill can be passed.

Leading figures in Canada's film and television industry urged the government to reverse a number of Senate changes to a bill to regulate online streaming ...

Film industry leaders at Prime Time expressed fears that the modernized broadcasting law could take years to come into force. “Being vigilant about this language is crucial in ensuring Canadian media hybrids, who produce and operate broadcasting channels, continue to be successful in a brave new world where we anticipate more media disruption,“ Mr. “There are amendments that have zero impact on the bill and others that may have, so many of those we will not accept,” Mr. “There’s a lot of amendments that we will accept.” They also said one provision in the bill creates a two-tier system for Canadian production companies and foreign players. Reynolds Mastin, head of the Canadian Media Producers Association, said at the conference that it was unfair to “hold Canadian companies to one regulatory standard, and foreign companies to a lower one.”

Just as decision-makers wrapped that bill's third reading on Feb. 2, Canadian screen leaders took the stage at the Canadian Media Producers Association's (CMPA) ...

“Ultimately, the streamers will find a way in all these jurisdictions to be supported and to support those local industries,” he said. He added there are plenty of details to debate, given how the bill is designed to deliver broad general instructions as a directive to the CRTC and other regulatory boards. “On top of that, we’re saying there could be a new mechanism for additional creativity and for additional production, where the IP resides in Canadian hands.” It is expected to be passed back to the Commons for a final vote and eventual passage into law in the coming days. “We could see more Canadian productions, which can fuel IP and actually be really beneficial to this entire market. There, they discussed media policy and potential changes to the industry in the years ahead.

The complete text of Sen. David Richards' speech to the Senate about the new Online Streaming Act.

The other was the First Nations writer Richard Wagamese, telling me he started writing because he was influenced by my work. One was the great Irish writer Roddy Doyle, telling me he had long admired my work. That identity politics is positive because it teaches a bland society about new voices or about trauma which only certain people are allowed to say they know. I grew up in a place in the east of Canada called the Maritimes and have fought for every inch of soil in my fictional world that, for years, dismissed who I was and especially whom I wrote about. I’m not speaking solely of the internet because I am too old to know it; however, this will bleed over into any performance we tend to create, and we will have government officials holding a book of rules telling us if we are Canadian enough or, worse, who can write what about whom. No decree by the CRTC could, in any way, tell us what Canadian content should or should not be, or who should be allowed to bob their heads up out of the new murkiness we have created. Cultural committees are based as much in bias and fear as in anything else. Nothing in the book is more significant than that moment, for that moment shows it to be absolutely Russian and, for all mankind, absolutely universal that the way to fight such mechanized violence and hate is with simple compassion and forgiveness. When Vasily Grossman completed Life and Fate, his grand novel about the Battle of Stalingrad, it had to be sanctioned by the cultural section of the Central Committee, the wise Soviet think-tank of art and culture. The following speech was delivered in the Canadian Senate by Sen. It is a brilliant proclamation, and it shows Cicero at his best and bravest. Article content

OpenMedia works to keep the Internet open, affordable, and surveillance-free. We create community-driven campaigns to engage, educate, and empower people to ...

“Unfortunately, the Senate introduced a new problem – a sweeping age-verification requirement that could lead to Canadians having to provide their real-life identification to access large parts of the Internet,” Hatfield continued. Bill C-11 was initially introduced as 2020’s Bill C-10, which drew immense controversy for including all user audiovisual content under the CRTC’s regulatory control. As initially passed by the House, Bill C-11 included a section that excluded some user posts from CRTC regulation. Missing from the Senate’s amendments was tightening of heavily criticized Section 9.1. “The Simons and Miville-Deschêne amendment to section 4.2(2) is a critical win for ordinary Canadians. Bill C-11 will now head back to the House of Commons, where MPs will decide whether to accept any or all of the Senate’s amendments.