44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 30, 2023 10:00AM
Madam Speaker, it is an honour once again to rise in the House as the representative of the awesome people and beautiful area of the North Okanagan—Shuswap.
I rise today to debate Bill C-11, what has become commonly known as the Liberal government's censorship bill. I rise on behalf of a long list of people who contacted me by email, social media, handwritten letters and on the streets, asking me to do all I can to oppose this draconian bill that would control what they will see online and what they can post online, all controlled by a government deciding what government wants them to see and post, not what users choose to see and post.
As I rise today, the government has already taken other steps to limit what Canadians can say about this bill. Today, the government has decided to further censor open debate on Bill C-11 by forcing closure of debate on the bill and, in doing so, deny any further debate in the House today and force a vote on it tonight.
More and more Canadians are realizing the government cannot be trusted. Its actions are becoming more egregious on a weekly basis and Bill C-11 is just one more example, yet it expects Canadians to believe it, to trust it. It is no wonder we, as His Majesty's official opposition, as well as Canadians en masse, simply no longer trust the government.
When we look at the government's track record on transparency, or lack thereof, the examples are becoming too numerous to mention. I will mention a few, but there are so many instances of the government censoring the information Canadians deserve to receive, that the trend of excessive censorship is very clear.
The first significant issue was during the controversy of the SNC-Lavalin scandal, the removal of a justice minister, and the attempts to hide the truth from Canadians. That minister chose to speak truth and the Prime Ministerchose to silence her. Then there was the Prime Minister’s ethics breach with his trip to the Bahamas, when he refused to answer questions until the truth was dragged out and he was found guilty of that ethics breach. There was also the WE Charity scandal that eventually lead to the proroguing of Parliament because the government did not want the facts to come out, so it censored what could be heard by shutting down Parliament.
We also learned other facts the government would have preferred to kept secret from Canadians, that the Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development—
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- Mar/30/23 7:10:31 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I expected that the Liberals might wonder what I am getting to. What I am getting to is the fact that they cannot be trusted, so why should we trust them on this bill?
As I was mentioning, the list of egregious actions by the government just continues to grow. I spoke about the ethics breaches, how that was dragged out—
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- Mar/30/23 7:11:41 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is obvious the government does not want to hear the truth. It is going to try to push beyond the time allocation on this vote because it does not want to hear the truth. This is what it is trying to hide from Canadians and that is what I am trying to get at here.
We heard about the ethics breaches of the Prime Minister that he tried to hide, and how about the WE Charity scandal when the Liberals shut down Parliament?
I was beginning to speak about the Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development, who hired a company co-owned by a close friend. This was another ethics breach.
How about a housing minister who granted $133,000 to a group whose—
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- Mar/30/23 7:12:53 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the members will see, as I conclude my speech, how all of what I am saying is very much relevant.
More recently, we heard news about the foreign influence that happened in the 2019 and 2021 elections, but the Liberals were not going to tell anyone about it until the news broke in the media. Then they appointed a friend—
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- Mar/30/23 7:14:12 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, these interruptions are absolutely another example of the egregious actions of the Liberal-NDP government. That is what I will get to in this speech, if they quit interrupting me and allow me to finish.
Further to these attempts to limit what Canadians can see, we just heard yesterday what appeared to be more evidence of a government that wants to control and censor what Canadians see, share and read. The government has appointed an interim Ethics Commissioner with family ties to the Liberals.
This may not sound bad enough at first glance, but upon further examination, it is not just a connection of a Liberal family. It is the same Liberal family that was involved when the former fisheries minister was found in breach of conflict of interest rules for approving a deal that could see a Liberal family friend reap big benefits. The deal was clam scam. The former fisheries minister issued a licence worth $24 million to a company that was run by his wife's cousin. Now it is the same Liberal cabinet minister's sister-in-law who has been appointed the watchdog of a corrupt Liberal government.
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Madam Speaker, this harassment from the parties that simply do not want to hear the truth is incredible, especially from the member for Winnipeg North, who is known for rambling on and on in debate in this House. His speeches have become less and less relevant over the years. I look forward to tying this all together so that we can understand what I am speaking about.
It is not just that we are speaking for Canadians who are concerned that their access to what they view online may be restricted by the government. It is about an even greater concern over what the government will do to hide its backroom deals, corruption and scandals if Canadians are not able to share and view things online without government censorship. The Liberals' track record, which I just laid out only a portion of, shows that they cannot be trusted to do what is right and what is ethical.
Bill C-11 is a piece of legislation that would impact every single Canadian who has a cellphone, a television or a computer in their home and who enjoys online streaming and viewing and listening to content online. Through this piece of legislation, the government is about to give itself the ability to control what Canadians have access to, can listen to online or can watch online. Instead of viewers deciding what they want to watch, the government would control the algorithms, which will put things in front of them that the government determines it wants them to see. People go online to see what they want to see, not what the government wants to see.
I have been asked to do all I can to stop this bill and I will. However, in turn, I ask Canadians to do what they can by contacting members of the Liberal-NDP government, MPs and senators from the other House to voice their concerns with Bill C-11, and join us as we fight on their behalf to maintain freedoms in Canada. They should tell the government that what it is doing is wrong. For the government to take control over what people can post online, view online and promote online is wrong.
I have trust in Canadians to do what is right more than I trust the government. The government has shown a propensity to hide the truth. I have given many examples of that this evening, even though members tried to shut me down with their point of order interventions. I trust Canadians to do the ethical thing, but we cannot do this alone. As Conservative members in this House, we will lead the charge. I hope Canadians will fall behind us in leading the charge to end this bill and this draconian measure.
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- Mar/30/23 7:22:09 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the member asked if I would apologize if I am wrong, but I truly believe I will not be wrong. I hope he will do the same thing when he finds out that Canadians are being censored improperly. The Liberals are so afraid that people will put the truth out there and hear the truth that they are doing everything they can, as they have done tonight, to end debate on this bill.
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- Mar/30/23 7:23:07 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, if I were to sum up my speech in just a couple of paragraphs, it would be very difficult, because I had to list off so many places where we cannot trust the government. That is what my speech was about: the track record of the government and its failure to exhibit trustworthiness. We cannot trust it with this bill.
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- Mar/30/23 7:25:34 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will recognize the member's intervention, but I believe if he had read the bill and closely read clause 7, he would have understood that there are serious problems with the bill. We need to continue debate on it to allow Canadians and the experts to be heard and to understand why we cannot trust this NDP-Liberal coalition, which he has to speak up with because of a signed agreement between the parties to carry this corrupt government forward.
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