Online Regulation Bill C-11 to Become Law After Senate Vote

The Senate of Canada building and Senate Chamber are pictured in Ottawa on Feb. 18, 2019. (The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick)

The Liberal government’s controversial Bill C-11 to revamp the Broadcasting Act and put online content under the government regulator has finally passed the Senate.

Senators passed the motion clearing the bill by a wide majority of 52–16 on April 27.

“Great news!” tweeted Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, who sponsored the bill.

“Our stories matter, and with C11, we are supporting our artists and creators so they can continue sharing their stories with the world.”

The Senate had studied the bill previously and sent it back to the House of Commons with amendments. It then returned to the Senate with some of the amendments rejected.

An amendment to exempt individual content creators was defeated by all parties except the Conservatives.

The motion that was adopted by the Senate states that it agrees with the amendments made by the House and does not “insist on its amendments to which the House of Commons disagrees.”

The motion further states that “the Senate takes note of the Government of Canada’s public assurance that Bill C-11 will not apply to user-generated digital content and its commitment to issue policy direction to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission [CRTC] accordingly.”

This issue has been at the centre of the debate around the bill, with the Liberals saying it doesn’t cover used-generated content while the CRTC chair and other critics say that it does.

Conservative Sen. Denise Batters said in proceedings before the vote on the motion that public assurances are not enough.

“Honourable senators, I wasn’t born yesterday,” she said. “There’s no reason to think this Liberal promise will hold up any better than any of the many, many other broken Liberal promises.”

Batters said the government side censored debate around the bill in the Senate by imposing a time allocation.

Under Bill-C11, online streaming platforms will fall under the regulatory power of the CRTC. The bill will also require those platforms to invest in creating Canadian content.

A summary of the bill states that the CRTC should be provided with the “power to require that persons carrying on broadcasting undertakings make expenditures to support the Canadian broadcasting system.”

The bill also provides a progressive slant to the Broadcasting Act by adding multiple identity politics provisions.

It replaces a section that says the broadcasting system should serve the needs of “Canadian men, women, and children” by serving all “sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions.”

Peter Wilson contributed to this report.