It has been called a “regulatory power grab without precedent” and a “full-blown assault” on free expression and democracy. The Wall Street Journal quipped that it might erect a “great firewall of Canada.” Twitter has warned it would give our government the power to block websites as done in authoritarian countries like China, North Korea and Iran.
Like it or not, Ottawa seems determined to bring online communication in Canada under the thumb of federal bureaucrats. Its assault on the Internet began in earnest when the ruling Liberal-NDP coalition used its majority in Parliament to invoke closure and ram through the contentious Bill C-11, or Online Streaming Act, which passed third reading by a vote of 208-117 on Tuesday.