Canada's Controversial Bill To Overhaul Broadcasting Rules Gets Green Light From House

Muhammad Irfan Published June 22, 2021 | 08:24 PM

Canada's Bill C-10, introduced by the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to overhaul the country's media framework, was adopted in the House of Commons on Tuesday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd June, 2021) Canada's Bill C-10, introduced by the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to overhaul the country's media framework, was adopted in the House of Commons on Tuesday.

Parliamentarians voted 196-112 in favor of passing the legislation, which content creators, academics and elected officials have called an assault on free speech and freedom of the press.

The majority of parliamentarians from the governing Liberal Party as well as from the opposition Bloc Quebecois and New Democrat Party (NDP) voted for the legislation.

The Bill will now go to the Senate for approval and will have to receive royal assent from Chief Justice Richard Wagner, who is performing the duties of governor general following the resignation of Julie Payette, before it becomes law.

The legislation was originally introduced on November 3, by Trudeau's Minister of Canadian Heritage, Steven Guilbeault, who oversees the country's media and culture sectors.

Trudeau, Guilbeault and other high-ranking government officials claim the Bill is intended to loosen international social media goliaths' grip on the country's media landscape, ensure that Canadian media giants are duly paid for their content disseminated through social networks and overhaul an outdated media framework.

Critics, however, say that the Bill is a cynical attack on freedom of speech and the press in Canada, pointing to the removal of a clause - at the last second before the legislation was to be reviewed by the parliamentary committee on Canadian heritage - that protected independent content creators from government oversight.

Parliamentarians were given the opportunity to include the clause defending individual content creators, but the Conservative Party motion was defeated 117 to 200.