44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 28, 2022 11:00AM
Madam Speaker, everybody knows the propaganda system that comes out of Russia. That was not part of my speech. I do not disagree that it is full of propaganda.
My point is that every time the Liberal government brings a bill forward, every single time, it borders on a Communist-type policy. It borders on it every single time. The Liberals are trying to take away what we can see online, what we can read online, where we can shop and who can advertise to sell us something online. It is clear that the government does not want the people of Canada to think for themselves about their own content.
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- Feb/28/22 7:48:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is true that we have already seen the impacts of the campaign of disinformation led by Russia to particularly target democracies. They do so by propagating messages, information and propaganda that are incorrect. They repeat the lines that Russia is encouraging people to believe. It is information designed to subvert democracies and incite hatred against different groups. In this case, it is against Ukraine.
We have seen clear, concerted attempts to incite hatred against Ukraine that are baseless, and we have seen propaganda that is baseless.
There is a couple of things that we could do. The first is to be very careful. When we see information, we should be very careful about the source and make sure it is a source that we trust, a source that has been verified before spreading any of its messages. There is a clear effort, and we will be targeted with disinformation.
The second is that government has a strong role to play. We have seen, through a number of different accounts, including whistle-blowers, that social media benefits from divisive rhetoric and comments, and they amplify messages that might divide people because, whether it is people criticizing that message or supporting it, it will keep more people on their platform.
Governments have to play a role in ensuring that disinformation is not spread and is not allowed to be spread. It cannot be left in the hands of social media companies, which would give those messages that are divisive and that create controversy more space and amplify them in people's feeds. That is why government has to take a role in stopping the spread of that information. It is something we have long called for.
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- Feb/28/22 10:31:00 p.m.
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Madam Chair, it is a pleasure to work with my colleague on the foreign affairs committee, and it was a pleasure, in the previous Parliament, to work with him on the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations.
There has been a lot of discussion about the role of misinformation, and in particular there are concerns about RT. It is important to note some of the content we heard in the last Parliament. There are various so-called media outlets that are state-backed coming out of Russia and China that push misinformation and that also sometimes feature atrocities as part of their programming. There are instances, for example, of forced confessions and human rights abuses that are happening in the context of TV production, yet they are licensed to operate in Canada.
I wonder if the member could comment on the need, as many members have said, to address the issue of RT, but also to look across the board at state-backed misinformation and propaganda coming into Canada and whether those entities should have privileged access to our airwaves. Of course, they still exist on the Internet, but in my view they should not have the privilege of broadcasting licences and access to our airwaves.
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- Feb/28/22 10:32:23 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I was speaking about cardinal values earlier. In a democracy, freedom of expression and freedom of the press are cardinal values. We must always be extremely cautious and careful when we decide to circumscribe, regulate or limit freedom of expression and freedom of the press.
As the courts have ruled over the past few decades, there comes a time when reasonable limits must be imposed. When it is clear that there is a propaganda campaign, we must intervene.
I will end by reiterating that the main victims of this propaganda, this disinformation, are not Canadians, the French or the British, but Russians themselves. We must seek to provide information about what is really happening in Ukraine at present so that Russians can clearly see just how unjust and undemocratic their government is.
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- Feb/28/22 10:53:31 p.m.
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Madam Chair, actually that issue came up earlier today while I was speaking with some colleagues from the opposite side. The government cannot tell the CRTC who to remove, but I think there can be direction just as many of the broadcasters have removed it. I think a direction can made and some instructions given on what type of propaganda television should not be allowed in Canada. Based on that policy, I am hoping that the CRTC will be able to remove such channels.
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