Peter Menzies;
You may think putting the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and its nine government-appointed commissioners in charge of the entire online world is a good thing. Or you may think it’s a bad thing. But I’m guessing we can all agree that Bill C-11, the world’s most extensive internet regulation legislation so far, is a Thing.
And you’d think a thing that big would be deserving of respectful, honest debate and thoughtful review. If there’s something in the legislation that is bad in a way that isn’t intended, you’d want it caught and fixed, right? We are, after all, about to grant authority over 21st-century communications to people in charge of something called The Broadcasting Act. An act that was passed in 1993 to make sure nothing terrible — like people preferring NFL over CFL football or the Oscars over the Genies — results from watching too much American TV. Given that thousands of successful Canadian free enterprise Tik-Tokers and YouTubers fear new rules will disadvantage them in favour of the CRTC’s certified cultural broccoli, you’d think that’d be worth a think.
But you’d be wrong.
During hearings it appeared to be difficult for Liberal MPs like Chris Bittle and Anthony Housefather to tolerate anyone not dressed in matching political uniforms. I got off relatively easy when I testified before them. All I said was that by leaving the CRTC’s mitts off the online world, investment in Canada’s film and television industry had grown by 80 per cent in the past decade. In fact, it is enjoying the greatest period of prosperity in its history, so maybe take it easy on the panic button.
Others whose testimony could have been useful were cross-examined far more aggressively in an effort to delegitimize their expertise by diminishing them personally. Vancouver’s J.J. McCullough (self-described as Canada’s 398th most popular YouTuber) was asked about an opinion he had once expressed concerning bilingualism. Former CRTC commissioner Tim Denton, now chair of the Internet Society of Canada Chapter, suddenly had to account for some of his old commentary that once appeared in the Financial Post. Producer Scott Benzie of Quixote Media and the Buffer Festival got it even worse.
Suffice to say, the experience was made unpleasant and intimidating for anyone who might have had a point of disagreement. All showed up hoping they could help and be listened to respectfully; some left feeling labelled #enemiesofthepeople. (I am not aware of any who showed up to support the legislation that were made to feel the same way but, if they did, they have my sympathy.) MPs live in a friend-or-foe world. No quarter is given, not even to passersby.
With that ugly tone set early in the deliberations and despite particularly compelling presentations by Matt Hatfield of OpenMedia and Skyship Entertainment’s Morghan Fortier, it came as no surprise the bill wound up being pushed through, literally in the middle of the night.
We warned establishment journos like Peter Menzies what was coming, only to be shunned and defamed by these cowards as “dangerous freespeechers”.
It gives me no pleasure to say we told you so.
Well, maybe a little.
