Senator Housakos: Senator Gold, your government continues to say — as does the CRTC — that digital creators are not being regulated but that the platforms are. The reality of the matter is that’s the equivalent of saying books aren’t being regulated, but bookstores are. This is insanity, Senator Gold. It has to stop.

At the end of the day, if the CRTC doesn’t clearly understand what the government’s intention is with this bill, will you give clear directive? Or is this just another mess that Pierre Poilievre will have to clean up when he becomes prime minister?

Hon. Leo Housakos: Senator Gold, your government repeatedly said that user-generated content would not be regulated by Bill C-11. You explicitly ruled out the regulation of podcasts.

On May 12 of this year, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, or CRTC, released a myths and facts communiqué stating that concerns over the regulation of podcasts were a myth, and that anyone who creates a podcast isn’t a broadcaster under this law.

Quietly, last Friday, the very same regulator announced that podcasts must be registered with your government. Senator Gold, for a government supposedly consumed with misinformation and disinformation, this government continues to engage in it. Why were Canadians lied to in this manner by the Trudeau government and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, or CRTC?

Hon. Leo Housakos: Again, I ask leave to take the adjournment for the balance of my time.

Hon. Leo Housakos: With leave, I would like to take the adjournment in my name for the balance of my time, Your Honour.

Hon. Leo Housakos: With leave, I would like to take the adjournment for the balance of my time.