SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 69

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 11, 2022 02:00PM
Context: House Hansard - 69 - May/11/22
Mr. Dan Albas (Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, CPC)
  • May/11/22 6:44:24 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-11 
Madam Speaker, I certainly appreciate a fellow British Columbian speaking here tonight. The gentleman has described his experience in radio with the CRTC, but the Internet operates on much different principles. I speak to younger constituents who specifically cite the concerns around net neutrality. Net neutrality is literally a commitment by governments to not hold back data unless it is illegal content, but now the government, through the CRTC and some unknown policy directive, will throttle back and block certain content from being seen by consumers when they want to see it, which violates the very principle of net neutrality. The member might say this is about the platform and the consumers and making sure they can see it. Does he not see that the Internet functions much differently, and that this would violate net neutrality?
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Context: House Hansard - 69 - May/11/22
Mr. Dan Albas (Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, CPC)
  • May/11/22 7:18:47 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-11 
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the work being done by the member for Regina—Lewvan tonight. He is a great advocate for his riding. I want to follow up on what our Liberal friend said earlier about the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms means that the government cannot do something directly to an individual. In this bill, the government would actually be giving the authority to the CRTC, which, through a policy direction from government, would then force the algorithms of these companies to treat content differently. In that case, it would be the company itself, such as YouTube or Facebook, that would say its algorithm believes such content should not be shown. That is a direct change of the way the Internet is supposed to work, and the government tries to work around that through indirect means. Can the member speak about the need for the government to start respecting charter rights, even if it is using another agent, in this case YouTube or Facebook, to violate Canadians' right of free expression on the Internet?
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