I’ve been meaning to post this for a few days, but a lot of other things got in the way. But it’s way too important and disturbing not to at least mention it for those who didn’t see it.
 
For the past week, many here – including yours truly – had our attention focused on a new proposed Canadian Communications overhaul that would see the introduction of a so-called Netflix tax and the proposal to mandate Canadian Content for foreign online services that do business in this country. That met with various opinions pro and con and both sides made good points.
 
But what’s buried in the report and is only starting to get noticed is truly alarming. Among the recommendations is one that I’m pretty sure everyone here will have a big problem with: allowing the federal government to vet – and censor – almost anything anyone posts on the web, including news.
 
And no, you didn’t misread that. As noted in an opinion piece in the Globe and Mail by former CRTC Commissioner Peter Menzies:
 
“…if you transmit, for commercial purposes, words, video or voice through the internet, text messages, fax or phone line, you will do so only with permission of a federal agency.
 
“That’s right: After more than a century of non-interference in speech through telecommunications, it is suggested that the state will determine what constitutes news and, when the proposed objectives of the act are included, “trusted” news.
 
“That indicates that the content of virtually every online information entity – magazines, newspapers, subscription newsletters, real estate listings, travel advisories, weather reports, relationship advice, think-tank analyses, craft beer reviews and the latest Ukrainian borscht recipe – may be subject to the stern eye of what assumedly will be thousands of Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission bureaucrats.”
 
And it’s not just Menzies. Communications lawyer Michael Geist has raised the alarm over the proposals. So has Jonathan Kay in the National Post.
 
From Geist’s site:
 
“The panel’s vision is to create a Canadian regulatory framework that knows no physical boundaries – the CRTC empowered to apply its power to any site or service anywhere in the world used by Canadians – and with few limitations as the regulator would dive deeply into mandated payments, what content is displayed, what news can be trusted, and what Canadians view or download.”
 
Needless to say, this idea is not only unprecedented, it’s downright Orwellian. So who gets to decide what’s "acceptable news" on the web in Canada? There are hints that the chore could be turned over to a CBC-type panel, which is equally frightening.
 
Many here already expressed unease with the previously announced government plan to give millions of taxpayer dollars to “save newspapers,” even if it could call those publications' objectivity into question.
 
This is even worse. The good news is that so far, these are only recommendations and are unlikely to ever come to pass. And the courts would almost certainly strike them down as completely unconstitutional if they ever did try to make them the law of the land.
 
I know Justin Trudeau once famously said he admired the Chinese government's 'ability to get things done.' Let’s just hope he and his minions don’t try to prove it by adopting any of these idiotic ideas. Or you won't be reading about it here. 

Or anywhere.