NDP says Libs are to blame for C-10 delays as HoC passes ‘gag order’

The Liberals and the Bloc Québécois cooperated to pass a motion in the House of Commons Monday to limit the Heritage Committee to five hours to complete its work on Bill C-10, the revised Broadcasting Act. What the opposition is calling a “gag order” passed Monday in a 187 to 147 vote, with the NDP and Green Party siding with the Conservatives. The motion was put forward by Minister of Middle Class Prosperity Mona Fortier and seconded by Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault on Friday morning. After the allotted time, the bill will automatically move to the House of Commons for debate and its third reading before being passed on to the Senate. Multiple MPs from the NDP and Green party said the move was intrusive on committee work and reminiscent of the Harper era of government. “What we're talking about now -- not the importance of this bill and the stakes for artists -- this use of time allocation has only been used three times in all of Canadian history even Stephen Harper never tried to put a gag order or muzzle committee,” said NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice during comments on the matter. Time allocation motions are subject to a 30 minute question and comment period, not debate. The Conservative Party accused the Liberals of going against its previous statements that committees should remain independent without government intervention. “But this motion by the government does precisely that… They're trying to muzzle MPs in committee and prevent them from doing their work,” Conservative MP Gérard Deltell, who also serves as House leader for the opposition, said Monday during comments on the matter according to simultaneous translation. During the first four meetings of Bill C-10 the committee got through 79 amendments before the Conservative Party brought work to a halt as it debated the impact the revised Broadcasting Act would have on freedom of speech by including social media regulation in the scope of the bill. Heritage Minister Steve Guibeault defended the time allocation to the House stating that the Conservatives “systematically filibustered” committee work and it was essential to “expedite” the work for the cultural industry which he claims is losing $70 million in revenue every month. “I think that this is an exceptional step we're taking -- this time allocation -- the circumstances are exceptional and called for an exceptional response,” he said. Meanwhile, a letter signed by 30 organizations representing the cultural sector circulated via social media on Monday, stating that “modernizing the Broadcasting Act is long overdue” and calling for swift changes. “By giving a free ride to foreign streaming services, the current law and related regulations favour global digital platforms over our own broadcasters, producers, musicians and creators, placing many of them at risk,” the letter stated. “Delaying this important legislation further will only strengthen foreign digital players at the expense of our distinct Canadian voices,” read the letter, which also appeared as advertisements in the Toronto Star, Le Journal de Montréal, and the Hill Times. (The Hill Times is owned by Hill Times Publishing, which also owns The Wire Report.) NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said in a morning press conference that his party stands behind the Canadian and Quebec cultural sectors and that it is unfair that foreign enterprises are not financially contributing. He added that his party did not support the time allocation motion as there is “still essential work that needs to be done” in order to ensure Bill C-10 does not go to the courts, according to a translation. Singh called the Liberals sense of urgency and deadline “false,” noting that they have two more years until the next election and added that should one be called in the next few months then “the blame will fall on the Liberal’s shoulders,” if the bill does pass because they had six years to get it done. “We have time. We have two years, our mandate is four years. So if the Liberal government really wants to do the work to have a bill that works, defends culture, helps artists, we have the time to do it,” he said. At Monday’s Heritage Committee meeting, which took place before the House of Commons vote, NDP MP Heather McPherson unsuccessfully brought forward motion on behalf of the party requesting that the committee sit into July and August to “ensure” it had “time to complete this work” calling the time allocation motion “wholly insufficient” The Liberal government did not support the idea, with Liberal MPs arguing that the committee has reached a point where only one clause-by-clause amendment gets voted on per two hour meeting. “Adding extra meetings during the summer isn't going to help us get to where we need to be because at this point we have just reached a standstill,” Liberal MP Julie Dabrusin said to the committee. “The Conservatives have been filibustering here at committee, as is their right to do by parliamentary procedure, and same as it is our right to bring forward a motion for time allocation.” Dabrusin added that she no longer believes the Conservative’s “filibustering” was about concerns over freedom of expression, after comments Conservative MP Rachael Harder’s made to her local media in Lethbridge, stating that the cultural sector wanted the Liberals to “charge these large streaming companies in order to bring about more money to put into these grant funds so these outdated artists can then apply for that money so they can continue to create material Canadians don’t want to watch.” Earlier in the day Monday, Guilbeault blamed the Conservative Party's "obstruction" of Bill C-10 for the delay in tabling promised legislation aimed at combating online harms. During Guilbeault's appearance at the House of Commons Ethics committee Monday -- which was focused on the aims of the forthcoming bill -- Conservative MP Shannon Stubbs asked Guilbeault why the introduction of the bill has been delayed. "In January, you said that within a few weeks you were going to create a regulator to stop child sexual abuse material and sharing of non-consensual images online, so I'm just wondering why there hasn't been any serious progress on that?" Stubbs asked Guilbeault. "Unfortunately, the systemic obstruction of the Conservative party regarding Bill C-10 has prevented me from doing so. But I am still hoping to table this bill as soon as possible," Guilbeault told the committee. Stubbs said the Minister's response was a "ridiculous and partisan evasion." The progress of C-10 has been mired in a clause-by-clause review in the House of Commons Heritage committee since the striking of a social media platform exemption from that bill in late April. The online harms legislation would create a new regulator that would deal with five categories of illegal online activities -- hate speech, content exploiting children, terrorism, violent content, and the non-consensual sharing of intimate images. -- Reporting by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca with reporting and editing by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca.

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NDP says Libs are to blame for C-10 delays as HoC passes ‘gag order’

Broadcast | June 7, 2021

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